


The Next Five Years

by derivedfromstrong



Series: Five Years Collection [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fix-It, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Pregnancy, Recovery, Spoilers, Tony Stark Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2020-06-26 02:36:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 33,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19758856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/derivedfromstrong/pseuds/derivedfromstrong
Summary: The story of the Stark family continues in this sequel to my previous story, "The Last Five Years".  Tony returns home from Wakanda to surprise news and the appearance of familiar faces.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AN: This is a work of fiction. None of the characters mentioned belong to me (even though I wish they did). This has not been beta'd, any mistakes made are my own. And as always, thank you for reading and for your continued support.

_Pepper smiled as she watched them, she soon caught a glance at Peter and waved to him. She was so glad to finally have everyone back. Everything was falling back into place._

_Soon, Morgan and the other kids began to play out in the yard again, and while everyone else was mingling, Pepper sat beside her husband. It was going to take some getting used to, seeing him scarred and losing his arm, but Tony was alive and well… and she needed to remember that. Especially for what she was about to tell him._

_“Hey… how’re you feeling?” She asked him with a smile. “Do you need anything?”_

_Tony shook his head, using his good arm to take her hand. “I’m fine. Everything’s going to be okay… I can’t believe that.”_

_“Well, you better believe it,” Pepper smiled, gently squeezing his hand. “Because I have something I need to tell you.” Leaning in close so she could whisper in his ear, she smiled. “I’m pregnant.”_

~

Tony’s eyes widened and he looked to his wife, a lopsided smile forming on his face. “Really?” He asked, laughing when he saw the shine in Pepper’s eyes. “How long have you known?” 

Pepper laughed when she heard his question, looking at him. “I’ve known for a while now… but I can tell you about that later.” 

However, she could tell that Tony was trying to figure out the math in his head. 

“Pep… you were in a suit. You could’ve gotten hurt.” He looked at her, with concerned eyes. 

“But I didn’t and that’s what matters, right?” Pepper wrapped her arms around him, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek. “I’ve already been to the doctor twice, everything’s okay.” She reassured him. Watching while Morgan played with Peter and the Barton kids, Pepper felt a new sense of hope and pride that she hadn’t felt in a long time. Her husband saved the universe, how great was that?

Looking at Tony, she noticed his eyes were shiny. Smiling, she took his hand and squeezed it gently. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I’m just thinking about how I got so damn lucky to be alive after everything that happened,” Tony smiled up at Pepper. “I saw death. I’ve only ever pictured it before. But here I was, staring it in the face, ready to accept my fate and then… and then I heard your voice. Telling me it wasn’t time to go. It’s you I’m always thinking about. Now you’re telling me that Morgan’s going to be a big sister and I feel like I’ve won the jackpot.”

Smiling, Pepper leaned in to kiss his cheek. “I wasn't going to let you go that easily… you told me I’d only be allowed to grovel for a couple weeks, that’s not enough time,” she laughed and felt her own eyes stinging with tears. “I’m so happy you’re finally home. It hasn’t been the same without you here.” 

Sitting there with Tony in her arms, Pepper finally felt at peace. Even though she knew he had been doing well in the beginning stages of his recovery and he even told her to stay home with their daughter, Pepper was so glad he was finally home because she could relax… and now that he finally knew her secret, things were finally going to be okay. 

~

After most of their friends had left for the night, Pepper had to compromise with Morgan to let her stay up just a little longer so she could spend time with her dad. She had barely gotten to spend time with him since he initially got home, so Pepper couldn’t really say no. But that meant bath time had to be a little earlier than usual. 

So, while they were upstairs, Tony was now resting on the sofa, chatting with everyone that was still left. It was still hard for him to get around, but he was taking every day with little baby steps. He had been in Wakanda for the past six weeks, marveling that their technology that helped save him. Luckily he had convinced them to get him design and build his new arm prosthetic, but it was still going to take some time because he still needed to heal. 

“Tony?” Rhodey looked at his friend. 

Turning his attention to the group in the room, Tony smiled. “Sorry, lost in my thoughts… what?”

Rhodey laughed, a beer still in his hand. “We were talking about how threatened you must’ve felt in Wakanda… seeing all that tech that was a trillion times better than anything you’ve ever come up with.” He was completely kidding, because that’s just how he was, but he had a feeling Tony geeked out, enjoying all that technology. 

Shaking his head with a grin on his face, Tony looked at his friend. “Well, Platypus… I was actually quite into everything they had. Had I known about it sooner, I would’ve suggested meeting Shuri a long time ago.” He said. “I owe everything to them… they saved my life.”

“Mr. Stark… what was it like?” Peter spoke up. He knew he should’ve left when everyone else did, but no one seemed to mind that he stuck around. May might kill him later for being late, but he figured she’d understand. When Tony gave him a confused look, Peter laughed. “Sorry, bad way to word it… What was it like when you snapped your fingers? What did you think of? How did you get them to go away? What was time traveling like?” 

He’d been dying to talk to Tony since that day. Peter hadn’t been allowed to go to Wakanda while Tony was recovering and he wasn’t sure when the next time he’d be able to see him would be, so he was grateful that Pepper invited him to the party today.

“Slow down… you’re rambling,” Tony laughed when he heard Peter. “When Dr. Strange told me there was only one chance of winning, I knew what I had to do… I had to get the stones back. So, when I snapped my fingers, I thought about getting rid of the threat at hand, keeping the world at peace. Then I saw a lot of white…” 

However, that thought was interrupted by the sounds of footsteps entering the room. Morgan carefully climbed down the stairs and ran into the living room where they all were. Running into the living room, she immediately went over to where her dad was sitting and grinned. “Mommy says I have to go to bed soon, but I wanted to see you first.” 

“Well, Mommy always knows best, but I’m glad you can spend a few more minutes with me.” Tony smiled, kissing the top of Morgan’s head as she curled up beside him. “Sorry I can’t tuck you in tonight, Morguna. Hopefully tomorrow I can climb the stairs better.” He agreed with Pepper that sleeping in the guest room right off the kitchen would be best, since he wasn’t the most balanced on his feet yet.

“It’s okay,” Morgan said, cuddling him. “That means you can read me two stories tomorrow.” 

Tony was going to make another comment about extortion, but decided against it. After everything that happened, Morgan hadn’t been able to spend time with him the past six weeks. It felt like he missed out on so much, so if Morgan wanted one thousand bedtime stories tomorrow, he’d read her a thousand. 

Looking over at Peter, Morgan offered the teen a big grin. “I told Peter all about the stories you used to tell me!” She said. “His favorite was the one about the duckling family too.” 

“Sure was, Mr. Stark…” Peter said, a grin spread across his face. “You’ll have to tell me some more of those stories too.”

“Hey, you try reading _Goodnight Moon_ fifty times a week and tell me what it’s like,” Tony said, then using his good arm, reached over to brush back Morgan’s hair. “You’ve been for for your mom these past few weeks, right?” 

“Yeah!” Morgan nodded, smiling up at him. “I only got in trouble once…”

“Morguna…” Tony shook his head with a soft chuckle. “You have to be good for Mom… she’s the boss, you know?” Tickling under Morgan’s arm, he smiled when the little girl laughed. It was amazing to be home, knowing his family and those he cared about were okay. It was going to make him rest easier knowing there was finally no threat. They had won and he could be home with his family.

Pepper soon reappeared to collect Morgan to get her ready for bed. Morgan hugged and kissed her dad on the cheek before sliding off the sofa and wishing everyone else a good night. “See you in the morning?” Morgan asked, looking at her dad. 

“Absolutely. Goodnight Little Miss… listen to your mom.” Tony blew her a kiss and watched as Pepper walked her back up the stairs to her room. 

Looking over at Peter, Tony saw the grin on the teen’s face. “What?” 

“Nothing…” Peter said quickly. “It’s just crazy to think how much I missed out on… but I should probably get going. Happy, are you headed back to the city by chance?” 

Happy rolled his eyes, but decided he could take the kid back. “Yeah, let’s go. Tell Pepper I’ll see her around.” 

Rhodey was last to leave, but Tony didn’t mind. He appreciated having the company. Rhodey had been the first one to find him after he snapped, but he was so glad they were sitting in the living room now and not a cemetery. 

Once Morgan had been tucked in for the night after only _one_ bedtime story, Pepper reappeared downstairs, thanking Rhodey for keeping Tony company while she was taking care of Little Miss. As soon as he left, Pepper curled up beside Tony. “Did you have a good time?”

“I’m so glad to be home, I’ve missed you so much,” Tony held her close as best as he could and kissed her gently. Now that their friends had gone, he could finally talk to her again. “So you’re really pregnant?”

“Yes… and if you’re really wondering. Yes, the baby’s yours. Yes, it happened the night before you left…” Pepper looked at him. “And yes… everything’s okay. The baby’s fine. If it’ll make you feel better didn’t know I was pregnant when I got into the suit. I didn’t know until a few weeks after. Believe me, I knew what I was doing.”

Tony smirked when he heard Pepper and leaned in to kiss her again. “I love you... This has been the best coming home surprise,” he told her with a grin. “Does anyone else know?"

Pepper shook her head. “Not yet… I wanted you to know first. But I want to wait just a little while longer.”

After spending some time together on the sofa, Pepper soon helped Tony into the guest bedroom. She knew his recovery was far from over, but they were going to take it one day at a time. 

Right now, this was all she needed. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Tony comes to terms with his recovery and the fact he's going to be a dad again, Pepper copes with a lesson in patience while teaching Morgan about the new addition to their family.

Tony’s first night home wasn’t as relaxing as he had hoped. Even though Pepper helped him as much as she could, there were the moments when he woke up because he was in extreme pain, or because he couldn’t stop thinking about everything. 

It seemed crazy that it was only a little over six weeks ago when he pretty much died while saving the world, because it felt like he should still be in the hospital, laying in a hospital bed while recovering. But now he was home, with his wife and daughter, and now another baby on the way. How had he gotten so lucky?

Pepper could feel Tony stirring in bed beside her and she opened her eyes. It was the middle of the night, but she figured that he probably had a lot on his mind. Turning so she could curl up next to him, she expected his arm to wrap around her, but quickly realized she was on the side where his arm was gone. Reaching up to stroke his cheek, she looked at him. “Honey, you okay?”

The room was dark, but Tony’s eyes had adjusted and could easily see Pepper’s face, the look of worry in her eyes. “Can’t sleep, that’s all,” he said. Pepper had draped her arm over his chest, so she reached up to take her hand with his left. “Didn’t mean to wake you. I’m just… I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around it all. Dying… then not dying. Losing my arm. You being pregnant. It’s a lot to take in.” 

“Sure is… but this is just a setback,” Pepper told him. “You’re still recovering. It’s only been six weeks, but now you’re home and we can help you.” 

“But you’re pregnant now… that’s adding extra stress for you that you don’t need.” Tony worried about that a lot actually. Especially because Pepper wasn’t as young as she was when she had Morgan and even then she hadn’t been that young. His thoughts were cut off when Pepper leaned in to kiss him.

“Tony… look at me, it’s going to be okay,” Pepper told him. “I’ve already been thinking about it. You’re going to be in physical therapy for a little while, so that’s not something I’ll have to help you with. Then as soon as you’ve got some of that strength back, you’ll get your new arm and it’ll be okay. Plus, Morgan will be able to help with her new sibling.”

“My new what?!” A little voice came from the doorway. 

Pepper and Tony both looked up and Pepper quickly turned on the bedside lamp. Morgan stood in the doorway, clutching onto her teddy bear. Sighing, Pepper shook her head. “Little Miss, what are you doing up?” 

Morgan came over to the side of the bed, before crawling up to be next to her parents. “I couldn’t sleep. I wanna be by you and Daddy,” she told her mom. 

“How long have you been standing there?” Tony asked, a grin on his face when he heard his daughter’s answer. “You just love getting yourself into trouble, don’t you?”

“Nuh-uh!” Morgan shook her head, cuddling next to her mom. “Mommy, what’s a new sibling?” 

This wasn’t how she planned on telling their daughter the news that she was going to become a big sister, but nothing was better than the present, right? “Well… it means that I’m going to have another baby and you’re going to be a big sister.”

“A big sister… kinda like Lila’s little Nate’s big sister?” Morgan asked, thinking about the Barton children that she sometimes got to see. “Kinda like how Peter’s my big brother?”

Pepper chuckled because it was the middle of the night and Morgan was asking too many questions. “Peter’s _not_ your big brother, silly. But yes, you’re going to be a big sister just like Lila is to Nate.”

“Where’s the baby?” Morgan asked, looking at her mom. “Is it in your tummy? How do babies get in Mommy’s tummies?” 

“Okay Little Miss… I think it’s time to go back to bed,” Pepper said with a laugh, wiggling out from in between her husband and daughter. “Say goodnight to Daddy.”

Morgan giggled and shook her head. “Can I sleep with you and Daddy? Please?” The little girl looked at her dad and Tony had to use all his strength not to allow her to do so. 

“Morguna… you know it’s better to sleep in your own bed. Not to mention, this bed isn’t as big as the one upstairs. You’d be much more comfy in there,” Tony tried to reason with her. “Remember, Mom knows best, so you better listen to her, or else no juice pops tomorrow.”

The little girl perked up at the mention of juice pops. She didn’t like when those were taken away. Sighing… she gently hugged and kissed her dad and wiggled out of bed. “Night, Daddy.”

“Goodnight, Morguna.” Tony smiled and blew them a kiss before laying down once again. He wouldn’t fall asleep until Pepper came back, so he just closed his eyes and waited.

Taking Morgan back to her room, Pepper tucked her daughter back into bed. Morgan grabbed her teddy bear and cuddled up with it. “Mommy… are you really having a baby?” The little girl looked up at her.

Smiling, Pepper nodded and leaned in to kiss Morgan’s forehead. “Yes I am, but don’t worry, we can talk about that more tomorrow. It’s time to get some sleep. Goodnight Little Miss.” 

Once Morgan was tucked in and she had her little eyes closed to go back to sleep, Pepper gently closed the door and went back to the guest room where she and Tony were sleeping. “Okay… well, that could’ve gone a little better, but I’m sure we can explain it to her some more tomorrow.” 

Turning off the lamp, Pepper climbed into bed next to her husband, making sure she was careful as she curled up beside him. “Are you in pain?”

“A little, but I’m okay. I promise,” Tony did his best to wrap his arm around her. It was still painful sometimes, but he could tolerate the pain tonight. He missed having Pepper in his arms. “I love you, Pep.” 

~

Pepper was up early that morning and pleasantly surprised that Tony was still fast asleep. Carefully sliding out of bed, she exited the room, but left the door propped open a little so she could hear him if he needed any help. 

Putting on a fresh pot of decaf coffee (because she couldn’t give it up even if she tried), Pepper grabbed the tablet to look through what they had planned for the day. Rhodey was coming over with the physical therapist to see the best options to helping Tony continue his path to recovery, but that wasn’t going to be an all day thing. 

While she was sitting at the kitchen island, enjoying her cup of decaf, Pepper heard a thud followed by a fit of giggles coming from upstairs. Curious, she got up from her spot and went upstairs to see what was going on in her daughter’s room. 

“Morgan H. Stark… what are you doing?” Pepper asked quietly, opening the door to her daughter’s room. There she found the four-year old tangled up in her sheets, sitting on the floor. “Daddy’s still asleep, we wouldn’t want to wake him up, do we? Whatare you doing?”

Looking up at her mom, Morgan gave her a silly grin. “I was playing with my toys and they were saving the world,” the little girl held up her toy Iron Man and Rescue dolls. “And then I fell off the bed.” 

Chuckling, Pepper went over to help her daughter out of the sheets and took her hand. “Come on, let’s have some breakfast.”

Getting out of the sheets, Morgan took her mom’s hand and got up. “Sorry Mommy… I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“It’s okay, I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt,” Pepper reassured her daughter. Climbing downstairs, she was surprised to see Tony awake and in the kitchen, carefully pouring himself some coffee. Morgan was about to run up to him, but Pepper held her back. “Remember you have to be gentle, Dad’s still kind of unsteady on his feet.”

Morgan nodded, tugging on her mom’s arm before Pepper finally let go. Running up to her dad, she stopped just short so she didn’t bump into him. “Morning Daddy!” She grinned up at him, holding her arms up in hopes for him to pick her up like he used to. 

Looking at his daughter, Tony felt bad for having to tell her that he couldn’t pick her up. He tried to reason it with the fact that she was getting too big and too old to be carried, but that wasn’t even the case right now. He couldn’t do it with only one arm. He felt like he let her down “Sorry Morguna,” he sighed, tousling her hair. “When I get my new arm, I’ll be able to carry you again. I promise.”

Though Pepper knew Tony felt terrible for not being able to do much of what he used to do, she could tell that Morgan wasn’t disappointed. Instead, the little girl wrapped her arms around his legs and gave him a gentle squeeze before getting into one of the seats so she could have her breakfast. 

Even though Pepper wasn’t experiencing any major morning sickness this time around, she did get a little queasy around the smell of eggs. So, instead of having their usual breakfast of sunny side up eggs and some toast, she got started on making some pancake batter for homemade pancakes.

“Mommy, when’s the baby going to come?” Morgan spoke up again, looking at her. “How come your tummy isn’t big yet? I thought that’s where the babies grow?”

Pepper thought she had gotten lucky that Morgan hadn’t started asking questions as soon as she had gotten up, but that thought was squashed when she heard her daughter. “The baby won’t be here for another few months,” she explained. “It takes time for them to grow and it’ll take some time. And to answer your other question, babies _do_ grow in their mom’s tummy, but that takes time too. I’m sure in a couple weeks you’ll be able to see the baby.” 

Morgan perked up at the thought of that. Smiling at her parents, she giggled. “I’m so excited! Can we tell everyone?!”

Shaking her head, Pepper looked over at Tony for some reprieve. Tony saw the look on his wife’s face and laughed. “Okay, Morguna… listen up. We’ll tell everyone soon, but Mom’s not ready to make that decision yet, because there’s still a few things she needs to talk to her doctor about first. But as soon as she does that, we’ll work on telling everyone. Right, honey?”

“Absolutely,” Pepper said, smiling when she heard him. “Don’t worry, it won’t be much longer. Besides, who do you even want to tell?” She asked, glancing over at Tony with a smile - their daughter was so smart. 

“Uncle Rhodey… Uncle Happy… Peter…” Morgan started listing off the names of everyone she could think of.

Shaking her head as she listened to her daughter, Pepper went back to making the pancakes. “Don’t worry, Morgan. Everyone will know soon enough. Right now, it’s nice that just you and Daddy know,” she tried to explain, but she could tell Morgan didn’t really understand. “How about right now we focus on eating breakfast. Daddy’s going to need some extra fuel for when the physical therapist stops by.” 

Just as she was about to take her first bite of pancakes, Morgan looked at her parents. “What’s a physical therapist?” 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Tony continues his recovery he and Pepper have an honest chat about what could've happened, but ultimately didn't. 
> 
> Caution, chapter may contain spoilers for "Avengers: Endgame" and "Spider-Man: Far From Home".

_Is this thing on?_

_Everybody wants a happy ending. Right? But it doesn't always roll that way. Maybe this time…_

_I'm hoping if you play this back, it's in celebration. I hope families are reunited, I hope we get it back and something like a normal version of the planet has been restored, if there ever was such a thing._

_God, what a world. Universe, now..._

_If you told me ten years ago that we weren't alone, let alone, you know, to this extent, I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised, but come on, the epic forces of dark and light that have come in to play. And for better or worse, that's the reality Morgan's gonna have to find a way to grow up in…_

_So I thought I better record a little greeting, in the case of an untimely death, on my part. I mean, not that death at any time isn't untimely. This time travel thing we're gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it's got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all. Then again that's the hero gig. Part of the journey is the end. What am I even tripping for?_

_Everything's gonna workout exactly the way it's supposed to…_

“Tony?” Pepper was standing in the doorframe, tears in her eyes as she looked at her husband, sitting on the sofa.

“Pep…!” Tony scrambled to turn the hologram message off, but was struggling to grip onto the helmet with his one arm, so he eventually gave up even though the hologram was now staring at Pepper. "I didn’t realize you were here. How much of that did you see?” Though, Tony already knew that answer.

Pepper stood there, her eyes red and watering with tears. She was quiet for a moment, processing what she had just heard. Tony really did think of everything, didn’t he? Even when he thought he might not make it, he recorded something for her and Morgan. “When did you record that?” She asked, but didn’t wait for an answer because she already knew. “No…why _did_ you record that?” 

Tony looked at his wife and when Pepper’s eyes finally met his, she sighed, but her expression softened as she instinctively put a hand over the small bump that was beginning to show. 

“I wanted you to know that if something did happen to me, that it was going to be okay. Because if my death meant that everyone else got to live in a better world and knowing that you two were still in it, then it was going to be okay. Hell… everything’s even better knowing I’m still here, getting to raise our daughter and her sibling _together_ , but Pep, we both knew this could’ve gone the other way.” Tony hated putting that amount of stress on Pepper for majority of the time they spent knowing one another. But, considering she had stuck around for as long as she did (even if there was a little break in the middle), then he knew she loved him regardless. 

Finally figuring out how to turn off the hologram, Tony eventually made his way over to his wife. A few weeks had passed since he started physical therapy and he was starting to get stronger. Reaching up to touch her cheek, he wiped away a few tears that had fallen. “Believe me, I was so scared when I was holding those stones. I’d never felt so much pain in my entire life, not even when I had surgery with barely any anesthesia… but I knew I _had_ to do it.”

“I know…” Pepper said, wrapping her arms around him as he held her close. “It’s just, seeing that makes it even worse knowing that you were this close to dying and I know you wanted that message to be for us, but I don’t know if I could do it without you. I’d miss you too much.”

Tony chuckled when he heard her, knowing that would probably make her mad. “Pep… you’re a fantastic mom and believe me, I know you’d be fine raising Morgan to be a phenomenal person. Death is never easy, but it’s inevitable. I knew that going into this business. I knew that going into that particular mission. Whatever it takes, we owed it to the world to try.”

Pepper smiled when she heard him. That was the Tony Stark she fell in love with all those years ago. No matter how much she worried when it came to him wearing the Iron Man suit, she knew that he was doing this to help people. Resting her forehead against his, she leaned in to kiss him gently. She stood like that with him for a few moments, enjoying the moment of calm. 

“Why were you watching that recording?” She eventually asked. “I mean, of all the different movies we have digital copies of, you chose to watch that recording of yourself… you haven’t changed one bit Tony Stark,” she teased. Leaning back, she smiled at him.

“I was watching it because I wanted to think back to that day, how crazy it all was… how much I was going to miss you if something happened,” Tony told her. “And because I wanted to stare at how pretty I was before all of this,” he said with a grin. 

Shaking her head, Pepper leaned in in to kiss him again. “You look just fine,” she told him. “These are your battle scars, I think they look beautiful… because it’s brought you back to me.”

Resting his forehead against his wife’s, Tony smiled. “When’s your next appointment? I think I want to tag along.” He hadn’t joined her at any of the previous appointments, mostly because he hadn’t been able to, but now that he was doing better, he wanted to be there with Pepper. She needed his support through this too. 

“It’s not for another few weeks… we’ll find out the sex at the appointment,” Pepper smiled when she his question. Tony looked surprised, not realizing she was already that far along, but he smiled back at her. “You okay?.”

“I feel like I’ve lost out on a lot, but I guess I really haven’t,” Tony laughed again, then hobbled over to the sofa to sit down. “I still can’t believe it. I’m going to be so old by the time they graduate.” 

Shaking her head, Pepper followed him over to the sofa. “Tony… we’ve been given a chance to have another baby, so don’t think about any of that… because it won’t do you any good,” she told him. Sitting beside him, she smiled when Tony wrapped his arm around her.

He didn’t even have to tell her anymore, but she always had the right things to say. Kissing her temple, he smiled. “When’s Little Miss supposed to be home?”Morgan was currently in the city with Happy and Peter, exploring the zoo. 

“She should be home soon,” Pepper said, glancing at her watch. “I know she was so excited to go. Especially with Peter. Gosh, she loves him so much."

Tony laughed when he heard her. “That doesn’t surprise me,” he said. It was crazy, thinking about all the stories about Spider-Man that he used to tell Morgan during those five years and now Peter was back. He just hoped his daughter wouldn’t accidentally reveal his identity or anything. 

~

“Mommy!” Morgan’s little voice soon echoed through the house. “We’re back!”

Shuffling through the front door, Morgan made it through first, running into the room to find her parents. Jumping into her mom’s arms, the little girl giggled. “We saw a giraffe!” 

“A giraffe? That’s fantastic,” Pepper smiled, kissing Morgan’s cheek. Looking up, she saw Happy and Peter both walking in, arms full of stuffed animals and cotton candy. She gave them both a look. “We told you not to go crazy on the gifts.”

“I _know_ , but she’s got the most convincing puppy dogs eyes and Happy couldn’t help himself,” Peter said, laughing when he saw the look Happy gave him. “Sorry, Hap. But you’re a real pushover.”

Morgan hugged her mom, then wiggled out of her arms to go over to her dad. “I missed you,” she said, kissing his cheek. “We saw a giraffe.”

“I missed you too,” Tony smiled, holding his daughter close. He wished he could’ve been at the zoo with her, but he wasn’t ready for the public yet. When Morgan mentioned the giraffe again, he smiled. “So I heard. Was it really cool?”

“It was _so_ cool!” Morgan grinned. She hadn’t seen so many animals up close before. “I wanna go on a real safari soon. Peter said he’d take me.”

Looking at Peter, Tony raised an eyebrow. “Oh really?” 

“Well, yeah. One day. Not like we’re flying tomorrow or anything,” Peter said with a nervous laugh before changing the subject. “How are you doing, Mr. Stark?” He was still cautious around Tony, even though he knew his mentor was alive and doing well, he still felt a weird sense of guilt that Tony had to live with those scars the rest of his life.

“You know you can call me Tony,” he laughed and shifted in his spot on the sofa. “I’m doing great. A few more weeks of physical therapy and it’ll be like nothing ever happened. Speaking of, how are things going for you? I hear they’re making you repeat the school year.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of dumb, since we had already finished midterms and stuff, but it’s fine…” Peter shrugged. “The cool thing is, they’re still letting us go on our trip to Europe at the end of the year.”

“You’re going on vacation?” Morgan looked at him. “Can I go with you? I’ve always wanted to go on vacation.”

Pepper laughed when she heard her daughter. “Morgan, you can’t just invite yourself like that,” she told her. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll go on a family vacation soon.” Though, she couldn’t make a promise like that, because she wasn’t sure how long it would be before they could actually go on a vacation. Looking at Peter, she smiled. “That’s great to hear, Peter. You’ll have to tell us all about where you’ll be going.”

“Mommy, can Peter stay over for dinner?” Morgan piped up again. “Please?”

“Probably not tonight, but maybe soon. How does that sound?” Pepper looked at her daughter and smiled. 

Morgan looked disappointed, but Peter soon handed her the toy giraffe he bought her. “Thank you for the invitation, but I have to get back home or May will miss me too much,” he smiled. “But tell you what, if it’s okay with your Mom and Dad, maybe I can come back for dinner soon?”

“Of course, Peter. You’re welcome over anytime,” Pepper told him. “Morgan, say goodbye to Peter and Uncle Happy and what do you say to them for taking you to the zoo and getting you all the nice gifts?”

The little girl nodded, jumping off the sofa to give them each a hug. “Thank you!” she said with a grin before going back to her mom. “I didn’t get all the toys for just me. I got them for the baby!”

“Morgan…” Pepper’s eyes widened and she looked back at Tony who had the biggest grin on his face, before looking at her daughter again. Though, it was too late to really say anything now.

“The what?” Peter looked at the two of them, shock written on his face. 

“My baby sibling. Mommy said so. It’s in her tummy.” Morgan said proudly, with a smile on her face. 

“Is that so? Sounds like congratulations are in order.” Happy said with a smile. 

Pepper shook her head, laughing when she heard him. “Yeah, it’s true… thank you, Happy. But please, don’t tell anyone else. We’re not ready to tell the whole world yet.” 

“Your secret’s safe with us!” Peter said with a grin and waved to the family once more before they left the cabin. 

Morgan retreated back to where her dad was sitting on the sofa. Tony wrapped his arm around her and kissed her head. “It’s okay, Morguna… I’m proud of you for getting some toys for the new baby.” He told her before looking at Pepper. “Might want to get a statement put together… I wouldn’t trust those two,” he teased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Thank you so much for all of the support for this story so far. I just wanted to say, I don't have a set schedule for when this story will be updated. I've been working a lot recently and I haven't had the time and inspiration to write as much as I'd like. I'm literally piecing this story together as I go, because I do enjoy writing it so much. So, I hope you'll continue to stick around!
> 
> Also, beginning quote comes from "Avengers: Endgame". I take no credit for writing it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a big day for the Potts-Stark's, not only are they finding out the sex of their baby, it's Tony's first time back in public since bringing everyone back.

“FRIDAY, pull up the last thing I was working on,” Tony was at his worktable, a hologram of the newest prototype he was working on came up and he grinned. He was figuring out how to configure the nanotech to create a new arm for him. It was going to be like his suit, similar in design and even though he could add in features to make it combat ready, Tony wasn’t going to. Although he had no qualms if the Avengers needed his advice on something, he was no longer going to wear the armor anymore, it was time to pass that onto the next generation. He was officially retired.

 _Prototype 40B is up, shall I run a full diagnostics test, boss?_ FRIDAY asked, pulling up the statistics from the last test. Tony looked it over, there was something not quite right with it. 

“Run the test, tell me what still needs to be readjusted.” Tony sighed, sitting down in the chair. “I think it’s the mechanism that’s supposed to connect to my actual arm, something isn’t sitting right.”

“Isn’t that why you’re supposed to be going to see Shuri next month?” Pepper said from the staircase. 

Turning around, Tony laughed when he saw her. “I didn’t hear you come down,” he said and held out his left arm so she could take his hand. “I think you’re starting to do this sneaking up on me thing, on purpose.”

Taking his hand, Pepper walked over to look at what her husband was working on. “You realize Shuri is the one who helped Barnes with his arm, she can help you with yours. I’m certain of it. They already helped saved your life once.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, Pep… it’s just, this is usually something I’m good at doing. The nanotech was one of my best creations, there’s just this little hiccup that I can’t figure out.”

“Take it to Shuri when you go,” Pepper leaned in to kiss the top of his head. “Now, we need to get going or we’ll be late for my appointment.”

This was a big day for multiple reasons. Not only were they going to find out the sex of the baby, this was Tony’s first foray into the public after everything that happened. Pepper knew he was really nervous about both things, but she was going to be with him the whole time. Plus, after the appointment, they were going to meet up with Happy, who had picked up Morgan earlier that morning to take her to see a movie and do a few things in the city. 

Taking Tony’s hand, Pepper squeezed it gently before placing it over her bump. “Hey… it’s going to be okay. I’m going to be right by your side the whole time.” She knew he was worried about what people might think when they saw his scarred face and missing arm. “I’ve got your back."

Tony looked up at Pepper, a lopsided smile formed across his face. He might not have one of his arms anymore and he was losing his sight and his hearing on his right side, but he still had Pepper and their daughter and this new baby... and for that he was eternally grateful. “How’d I get so lucky having you in my life?” Standing up, he stretched a little before taking Pepper’s hand again. “Hey FRIDAY, keep running diagnostics, I’ll be back in a few hours.”

Leading the way to the car, Pepper helped him into the passenger’s side and made sure he was good before she climbed into the driver’s seat. “You okay?” She asked, looking at her husband. 

“Always,” Tony smiled back at her before laughing. “Let’s go, we’ll be late.”

~

She had kept her same doctor from when she had been pregnant with Morgan. They had just moved out to the cabin when she got pregnant and realizing it probably wouldn’t be super smart traveling all the way back to Manhattan every time she had an appointment, or when she went into labor, Pepper found a doctor closer to where they currently lived. Since she had been going there for the past five years, she kept that same doctor.

Arriving at the appointment, Pepper parked the car and looked around. Right now it was early enough that there weren’t too many people at the office now. “Ready to go?” She asked, smiling at him. 

“Let’s go,” Tony said and waited for Pepper to help him out of the car. He felt a little embarrassed, needing help the way he did, but he wasn’t completely there yet - and even though he’d never be completely back to normal, he wanted to be able to function like a normal human being. 

Opening the door, Pepper waited for Tony to move before she helped him out of the car. Taking his left hand, she smiled. “I got you,” she said, kissing his cheek. They took it slow as they went inside and upon seeing them, the receptionist smiled. 

“You can both head back to exam room two,” she told the couple, unlocking the door to let them in. 

“Thank you, Lucy,” Pepper thanked the receptionist and continued to the back with Tony. When they made it to the exam room, one of the nurses was waiting for them. Pepper helped Tony into the chair and went with the nurse to quickly get weighed. Once she returned, Pepper sat up on the table and waited. “Sometimes it feels like we were here just yesterday finding out about Morgan and I can’t believe that it’s actually been five years since the last time,” she smiled at her husband. “I almost thought about letting Morgan tag along, but I didn’t want to worry her in case something came up.”

Tony straightened up when he heard her, a sense of worry washed over him. “What do you mean by that?”

“Oh you know… I am how old now,” Pepper sighed softly. “There’s a larger chance of complications this time around and I didn’t want her to be disappointed if something happened.”

Reaching to take his wife’s hand, Tony squeezed it. “Didn’t you just tell me a little while ago not to think about all of that,” he teased, looking at her. “You told me we’ve been given this chance, so let’s stay positive, shall we?”

Pepper laughed when she heard him. She was so glad he was here for this. She couldn’t even imagine how this would be if he wasn’t here. 

The first half of the appointment was the boring stuff, at least, that’s how Tony felt. He didn’t mind hearing about Pepper’s symptoms and making sure she was okay, but it definitely wasn’t as exciting for what they were waiting for. He wanted to see the ultrasound, feel the familiar excitement and nervousness he felt five years prior. He remembered how scared he was back then and how scared he was now, but he was still so happy.

When it was finally time for the ultrasound, the technician asked if they wanted to know the sex of the baby. 

“Yes,” Tony said immediately and Pepper laughed. “Sorry, I’ve been waiting so long for this.”

He took Pepper’s hand while the technician moved the wand around Pepper’s abdomen, showing them the baby and showing them the heartbeat. Even though this wasn’t her first time seeing this baby on the ultrasound, it was Tony’s and she could see the emotion in his eyes. Soon, the technician put the sound on and they could hear the heartbeat and a few tears spilled over. 

“Everything sounds good,” the technician said, then pointed out a few things to them on the screen. Even for Pepper’s age, the baby was progressing nicely and so far there wasn’t anything major to worry about. Then, she got to the fun news. “So… let’s see if we can figure this out…” she moved the wand over Pepper’s stomach some more and smiled. “Ah, here we go… looks you’re having a little boy. Congratulations.”

Pepper looked over at Tony and saw the tears in his eyes. Laughing, she squeezed his hand and smiled when he kissed the back of it. “Morgan’s going to have a little brother."

~

In the car on their way to Manhattan, Pepper couldn’t stop smiling. She was fine, the baby was fine, it was already starting off to a great day. She couldn’t wait to tell Morgan. That is when they all got home later that night. Glancing over at Tony, she smiled. “What’s on your mind?” 

“I’m still processing it all,” Tony looked at her, but smiled. “I’m determined to be at least eighty-percent better by the time he comes along. I want to be able to take care of you and our son…” he paused, chuckling to himself. “Our _son_ , geez… I’m going to need to get used to that.” 

Pepper laughed again, looking at him when she stopped at a light. “Tony, just having you here is plenty enough. I know you’re determined to do a lot, but I don’t want you to overexert yourself. Just focus on one day at a time, that’s all I ask. Plus, we’ve got Happy and Rhodey to help and now there’s Peter and we have Morgan… there’s lots of help this time around.”

Tony nodded leaning back in his seat. “I’ll talk to Shuri about the arm. I know she’ll have a solution.”

When they arrived in the city, Pepper drove to where they were meeting Happy and Morgan. It probably made no sense coming all the way out to the city, but it was a really nice day and she knew it was going to be good for Tony to get away from the cabin. 

Looking out the window, Tony was glad to see everyone and everything was pretty normal. He had been reading about how the sudden influx of people coming back caused a bit of chaos the first few weeks, but it seemed like everything was coming along and people were getting their groove back. It had been hard explaining the phenomenon to people, but there were other people to explain that. 

However, it was something else that caught his eye when Pepper stopped at a red light. Tony looked over at the side of a building where there was a giant Iron Man mural. “Pep… did you tell everyone that I died?” 

“What? Absolutely not,” Pepper chuckled when she heard him. Turning to look at the mural, she smiled. “I may have mentioned that you’re retired, but you’re definitely still alive. People have different ways of saying ‘thanks’. I haven’t even shown you the piles of fan mail you’ve gotten."

“Hmm,” Tony nodded, then caught the eye of a little kid who was looking at the mural. The little kid almost didn’t believe who he was looking at, but when Tony waved, the kid waved back. The light turned green before anyone else could notice though. 

Arriving at the botanical gardens, Pepper spotted Happy’s car. “They must be inside already,” she said, putting the car in park. Looking at her husband, she smiled. “We’re not going to stay for too long. But just tell me if you need to leave.”

Getting out of the car, Pepper knew this was it. This was Tony’s first time back out since bringing everyone back. She wasn’t sure how everything was going to play out, but she hoped he would be okay. Taking his hand, she walked with him over to Happy’s car. Happy was helping Morgan out of the car when she noticed her parents.

“Mommy! Daddy!” Morgan waved to them, running over to them once she was on the sidewalk. “Uncle Happy took me to the movies. I had popcorn for a morning snack!” She wrapped her arms around her mom and hugged her tight. 

“Oh did you now?” Pepper laughed when she heard her. “What else did you two do?”

* * *

_AN: This is a 'two-part' chapter... this one was getting a little too long! Thank you for reading :)_


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing their day at the botanical gardens, Morgan experiences her first encounter with Iron Man fans. Meanwhile Pepper and Tony tell their daughter the good news!

“Then we went to say hi to Aunt May at her work, then we came here!” Morgan said before she went over to hug her dad. She didn’t quite understand the concept that May was Peter’s aunt and not hers, but May never really minded when she called her Aunt May. “Peter’s busy at school, so he couldn’t come today.”

Tony gently pat his daughter’s head with his hand, smiling when he heard her comment about Peter not being able to join them. “That’s okay. School is very important, so we wouldn’t want him to skip out anyway. You’ll be going to school soon, Little Miss. How crazy is that?” 

Morgan made a face when he mentioned school. “I don’t wanna go to school,” she shook her head, reaching up for her dad’s hand. “I wanna stay home with you and Mommy and the baby.” 

Clearing her throat, Pepper shook her head. She hadn’t made the official announcement yet, but was planning to do so later tonight. “Don’t worry Morgan, you’ll have plenty of time to spend at home with us, but like Dad just said, school is very important. If Peter has to go to school, then so will you. Now… we should probably head inside,” she looked at her daughter with a smile. “I thought you wanted to look at the pretty flowers?”

“Yeah!” Morgan grinned when she heard her mom. Taking her dad’s hand, she gently tugged. “Come on, Daddy.”

While they marched ahead, Pepper shook her head with a quiet laugh. “Thank you for taking her this morning,” she looked at Happy. “Hope she wasn’t any trouble.”

“Nah, I love spending time with the little squirt,” Happy laughed when he heard Pepper. “I’ll stay a few steps back, make sure no one bothers you guys.” 

Even though Happy wasn’t their bodyguard anymore, Pepper never argued with him when it came to security - she knew he was just looking out for them, so she silently thanked him before catching up with her husband and daughter. As she caught up to them, she could hear Morgan talking to her dad about something.

“...Aunt May works to help people without homes find new ones,” Morgan continued on with her story. “She said that Mommy’s work gave her a nice donation that she’s gonna use to open another shelter. Mommy! Aunt May says thank you for the donation.”

Chuckling when she heard her daughter, Pepper nodded and took Morgan’s other hand. “I’m glad to hear that,” she told her. “It’s always polite to help those who need it. Now, what flowers should we look at first?” 

“The sunflowers,” Morgan said immediately, smiling up at her dad. “They’re Daddy’s favorites.”

Watching from behind, Happy grabbed his phone and snapped a picture of the Starks. Morgan in the middle while she held her parent’s hands. It was a really nice picture that he figured it would be something they could look back on - Tony’s first day back. It reminded him of another day he remembered so vividly, the day Tony came back from Afghanistan. The day that changed _everything_.

~

Even though they could’ve spent hours at the botanical gardens, Pepper could tell that Tony was starting to get tired and they should probably start heading home. People in the gardens had been nice enough not to bother them while they looked around. However, as they began to leave, she saw the crowds of people that began to gather at the entrance to the garden - it seemed that word had gotten out.

Happy caught up to them to help keep the people from crowding around too much. Looking at her daughter, Pepper took a deep breath. “Morgan, I know it looks scary, but just hold my hand and we’ll get to the car, okay?” 

Morgan nodded, but Pepper could tell the little girl didn’t understand what exactly was going on. 

While they shuffled to the car as Happy tried to keep everyone back, Pepper could hear the genuine reactions from the crowd. 

_Thank you Iron Man!_  
_We love you Tony Stark!_  
_Enjoy your retirement!  
_ _Thank you!  
_ _We are grateful!_

Getting to the car, Pepper helped Morgan into the back, closing the door before she helped Tony into the passenger’s side. Though, before he got in, Tony looked at her. “Hold on,” he said and straightened out. Extending a hand, he waved to the crowd, flashing a peace sign to the cheering crowd. “Thank you,” he told them with his signature Tony Stark smirk, then got into the car. 

Flashing a thumbs up to Happy, Pepper got into the car and started it up. “Buckled in, Little Miss?” 

“Yep!” Morgan told her. “Daddy… why are there lots of people?”

“That’s a great question Little Miss,” Tony said with a smile. “You see, a long time ago, I used to be in charge of the company that Mommy runs now and a lot of people got to know me then and when I became Iron Man and worked with the Avengers to save the world, a lot of people got to know me then too. But Morgan… if they ever scare you or you get worried when there’s a big crowd, just tell me or Mom and we’ll make sure nothing happens to you, okay?”

“Okay,” Morgan nodded. “Mommy, I’m hungry. When can we have lunch?” 

Pepper laughed when she heard Morgan’s question. “Soon, Little Miss…” she told her. Pulling out of the parking lot, Pepper checked to make sure Happy was behind them as they began the drive out of the city and back home. She’d only have him follow for a little while, just to make sure no one else would follow them home. 

“Oh! Mommy, you saw the doctor today, right? How’s my baby sibling?” 

“Everything’s okay, we’ll talk about it more when we get home, okay?” Pepper shook her head as she drove. Glancing at Tony, she smiled. “You okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m good,” Tony smiled at his wife. “At least we got out for a couple hours. Hopefully next time we can stay out longer.”

“Don’t worry, we just have to take baby steps,” Pepper reassured him. “Maybe next time you’ll have a new bionic arm to flash to the crowd.” 

Once they were out of the city limits and it appeared that no one was following them, Happy turned around so he could head home and while she continued driving, Pepper chuckled quietly when she realized the car got quiet. Looking through the rearview mirror, she noticed that Morgan had fallen asleep in her booster seat and that Tony was also dozing off in the seat next to her. It was fine though, Pepper didn’t mind the quiet.

~ 

“Mommy! I wanna know what the doctor said,” Morgan begged over her lunch. The little girl was munching on a peanut butter sandwich as she watched her parents talking at the kitchen island. “How’s my baby sibling?”

Looking over at her daughter, Pepper gave her a silly face. “You’ve got to be patient, Little Miss. I’m talking to dad really quick.”

Morgan sighed defiantly as she went back to munching on her sandwich. Pepper chuckled before showing Tony the picture that Happy had sent her. “I think I’m going to post this on social media, is that okay?” She asked him. Since the picture was taken from behind, Morgan’s face wasn’t visible, so she wasn’t worried about that part. “Then I figured I’ll attach the picture of the ultrasound or something, we have to announce it before someone else does.” 

Tony contemplated it. He remembered when they were pregnant with Morgan, they didn’t put out an official announcement for fear of retaliation, but the news had gotten out after a few months, since it was hard to avoid the public. 

“How about…” he paused, still trying to piece together his thoughts. “You don’t include the ultrasound picture, but just put a blurb at the bottom? That way it’s not too invasive and it’s just a casual announcement, nothing flashy?”

Pepper smiled when she heard him. “Tony Stark doesn’t want a flashy announcement, what happened to the man I married?” She teased and leaned in to kiss him. “Okay... I like that idea. I’ll post it later.” Once that was settled, the two returned to the kitchen table to sit with their daughter. Morgan perked up when she saw her parents and Pepper smiled at her. “All right Little Miss, you ready?”

Morgan nodded, pushing aside her plate so she could rest her elbows on the table while she propped her head on her hands. “Ready!”

Putting the sonograms on the table, Pepper pushed them toward her daughter and pointed out the baby to her. “That’s the baby in my tummy… remember how we talked about that a little while ago? Well, at the doctor told me if you’re going to have a baby brother or sister, do you want to know?” 

“Yes please!” Morgan said, studying the sonograms. “Wait… Mommy, how come the baby doesn’t have any eyes or a mouth or a nose?” 

“Well, the baby does have those, it’s just hard to tell with those kinds of pictures,” Pepper tried her best to explain the process to Morgan, who sort of understood. “Regardless, the doctor said the baby is growing well and everything looks good, which is most important.”

“Yeah,” Morgan agreed with that. If the doctor said things were good, then everything must be okay. “Is it a baby brother or a baby sister?” 

Looking at Tony, Pepper smiled before they both looked at her. 

“You’re going to have a little brother, Morguna.” Tony told her. “How’s that sound?” 

Morgan jumped out of her seat, nearly tipping the chair over as she went to hug her mom and dad. “I’m so happy!” The little girl told them. “I can’t wait to show him _everything_!” 

~

That night, after Morgan was asleep in bed, Pepper was on the sofa, playing around on the tablet while she thought of the perfect caption to go with the picture she was about to post. There were plenty of upsides to posting it to social media, but she also knew the downsides, so to prevent them from getting any nasty hate messages, she turned comments off and edited the picture just a little, but was still struggling with the caption. She was typing when she heard Tony from the other room.

“Eureka!” Tony laughed, then quieted down, remembering Morgan was in bed. Turning around, he saw Pepper staring over at him. “Sorry, but I think we figured out the arm thing.”

“Really?” Pepper smiled when she heard him. “Why don’t you come here and show me.” 

Making his way to the sofa, Tony sat beside his wife and showed her the design on the tablet he was working on. “I think if we’re able to get this part to attach right here, then it should work. I’m going to send this to Shuri so she can take a look and when I go next month, I think we’ve got a shot at this.”

Leaning in to kiss him, Pepper smiled. “I’m glad that worked out. I’m certain that in a month, you’ll have a working bionic arm,” she told him, then placed her tablet in his lap. “Now… help me with this.”

It had taken them both longer then they wanted to write the caption, but by the time they went to bed, Pepper had scheduled their picture to post first thing in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I left the ending ambiguous, leaving you to decide what Pepper and Tony wrote for the caption of the picture they posted. 
> 
> Also just wanted to mention, I assume that Pepper and Tony take pride in keeping their life at the cabin private, so even though they posted something to their social media, I think they would take the extra precautions to making sure Morgan's privacy is protected, as well as their own. While they might be celebrities, their daughter is still a child, so they wouldn't post anything without being certain everything was fine. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading. Your support is what keeps me writing <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony's about to get his new arm... but not without reflecting about what happened a few months ago.

_Infinite power._

_The mission’s not over. Not yet. Eliminate Thanos and his army. That was his mission. Keep the world at peace. Keep everyone safe. Not die trying. Damn… that last part wasn’t going to happen, was it? He had a lot of apologizing to do._

_Looking at the threat in front of him, Tony cocked his head to the side. The gauntlet was feeding absolute power to his body. He held his hand up._

"And I… am… Iron Man."

_He snapped his fingers. For a moment there was total darkness. He stumbled, collapsing to the ground._

“Tony!?”

_Pepper… the love of his life. Oh god, how he was going to miss her. Morgan… his little miracle. The reason he did this. He’d never get to see her grow up, but at least she’d no longer live in a broken world. There was so much he was going to miss… but now he’d at least die knowing they’d be okay._

_Soon his eyes began to focus again. In front of him stood Rhodey and Peter… poor Peter. He’d never get to know why this happened. He hoped that he’d at least get to meet Morgan. He’d love Morgan so much. Then there was Pepper. It was always Pepper. “Hey Pep…”_

_His vision blurred again and Pepper’s voice began to fade away, but she was there. It was always her._

_I’ll see you on the other side…_

When he opened his eyes again, it wasn’t anything he’d ever imagined. Blinking in confusion, trying to focus on what was in front of him, Tony found himself somewhere unfamiliar. _Is this the afterlife?_ He thought to himself. Tony never really believed in that sort of thing, then again after dealing with aliens and norse gods and superheroes, he wasn’t really sure what to believe anymore.

His whole body hurt, but nothing compared to the unbearable pain he felt wielding the stones. Looking around, he saw someone’s head resting at his bedside. _Pepper_. Her strawberry-blonde hair was mussed, splayed across the bed. He wasn’t sure how long she’d been there. Moving his hand, he reached up to stroke her hair.

Pepper’s head shot up immediately. Tony noticed her eyes were red and glossy with tears. She looked at him as if she almost didn’t believe what she was seeing. “Tony?” 

“Hey Pep…” He whispered, not quite able to find his voice. Giving her a smile, he tried to sit up a little, but stopped when Pepper shook her head and stroked his cheek.

“Don’t move too much… you’ve been out for a while.” Pepper said, leaning over to kiss the top of his head. “Let me call Shuri and the doctor.” 

Tony closed his eyes again, he was already so tired even though he had only been awake for a couple minutes. “Pep… where am I?” 

“A hospital in Wakanda,” she told him, typing something into her tablet. “You’ve been in a coma for a while.”

“Where’s Morgan?” Tony asked, realizing that if he and Pepper were in Wakanda… who was watching their daughter. 

“She’s back home with Happy. He’s taking good care of her. Don’t worry, I plan on going home soon.” Pepper leaned in to kiss his cheek. She felt a little guilty for not having Morgan here with them, but she didn’t want their daughter to see the state Tony was in, not yet. Looking at her husband, Pepper smiled again as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “I’m so glad you’re awake. I was beginning to wonder if you’d ever wake up.” When he didn’t answer, she looked at him. “Tony?”

Tony was looking down at the spot where his right arm should be. He slowly started putting the pieces back together. “Is he dead?”

“Yeah… he’s gone,” Pepper nodded when she heard him. “You saved the universe.” 

~

After countless weeks of physical therapy to gain back some strength and collaborating with Shuri on the designs for the arm, Tony was finally ready for the procedure to get his new arm. He and Rhodey were both traveling to Wakanda for the quick procedure and staying a day or two to make sure everything worked out. Pepper was staying behind not only to take care of their daughter, but she had been advised by her doctor that she shouldn’t be traveling much during this pregnancy - a trip to Wakanda would be too much. However, Morgan wasn’t so sure of those arrangements.

“I want to go with you!” Morgan cried when she saw her dad packing his suitcase. “I don’t want to stay with Mommy. I want to go with you!” The little girl climbed onto the bed, sitting on his suitcase in protest. 

“Morguna, you know you can’t come with me. Mommy will be so lonely here all by herself,” Tony tried to reason with his daughter. “Besides, all of this will be so boring anyway. I won’t be gone for long.”

Though, Morgan didn’t budge. Instead, the young girl crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. “You said that last time and didn’t come home for a long time.”

Tony blinked, looking at his daughter. She looked just like Pepper in that moment. Morgan had the same expression Pepper had the first time she discovered him in the Iron Man suit. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he sighed softly. “Morguna… do you want to know why I couldn’t come home so quick the last time?” 

Morgan’s expression softened, then she looked at her dad. “Is it because of your arm?”

Tony nodded, patting the bed to get Morgan to sit next to him and not in his suitcase anymore. “Yeah… it is. I had a very important job to do and I got hurt. I definitely wanted to be here with you and Mom the whole time, but the doctors here couldn’t help me like the doctors there. But I won’t be gone for so long this time around. A few days tops, I promise.” 

Even though she was still pouting, Morgan wrapped her arms around her dad and hugged him tight. “Okay…” she said and looked at him. “I promise I’ll be good for Mommy.”

Tony chuckled and hugged his daughter back. “Good, because I don’t want to hear about you getting in trouble. Understood Little Miss?” Kissing the top of her head, he looked at her. “Do you want to help me finish packing?”

Pepper soon found them in the bedroom, laughing while they packed Tony’s suitcase. “What are you two doing?” 

“Packin’,” Morgan looked at her mom. “Daddy’s going away for a few days, remember?”

“Hey now, of course I remember,” Pepper laughed when she saw the expression on her daughter’s face. Looking over at Tony, she smiled. “I was just checking to see how you were doing. Rhodey should be here soon.”

“I’m fine,” Tony said with a smile. “We’re just about done packing, aren’t we Morguna?” Their daughter smiled up at him as she zipped up duffel bag. “See, all done.”

Shaking her head, Pepper laughed when Tony grabbed her hand and pulled her in for a quick kiss. 

“Eww…” Morgan giggled and covered her eyes as she laid back on the bed. 

Looking at their daughter, they laughed again before going over to the bed to tickle their daughter. Morgan kicked her legs, trying to get away from them. “Mommy!” She squealed, wiggling herself from beneath them. 

It wasn’t much later before Rhodey showed up. He greeted Morgan with a hug and quick kiss on the cheek before he straightened up to hug Pepper. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he comes home safe.”

“Thank you James,” Pepper hugged him back and noticed that Morgan had disappeared. “Morgan H. Stark, come back here please.”

While Rhodey took Tony’s bag to his car, Tony gave his wife a hug and kiss. “I love you, Pep,” he said quietly before placing a hand over her bump. “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“I know,” Pepper hugged him tight, holding onto him for just a moment longer before she noticed Morgan came back. Holding her arms open, she smiled at her daughter. “Come here Little Miss.”

Morgan joined in on the family hug and Tony held back his tears, holding onto them for as long as he could. Soon, Pepper let go and took Morgan’s hand so they could watch him leave. 

“I love you three-thousand, Daddy!” Morgan yelled out as she waved to him.

~

Unlike last time when he could barely comprehend where he was, Tony was excited to be back in Wakanda. The technology here was astounding and he hoped Shuri might let him play around with some of it this time around. But first, they were had to get to the hard stuff.

When he looked at the completed prosthetic, Tony was excited. It was a combination his own nano-tech and some of Shuri’s Wakandan tech. Similar to the arm they created for Bucky, but more personalized for Tony. And it was red and gold… something he couldn’t wait to show Pepper. Tony knew he was forever retired, but he couldn’t resist just having a little bit of Iron Man thrown in.

As fantastic as all of this was, it was also painful. Even though he had been in physical therapy the past few months, his injuries were still kind of painful and tender while they healed. However, they put him under for a little while as they began the process of getting the new arm attached.

After a few hours, Tony awoke in some pain. But when he looked and saw his new bionic arm on his right side, he was pleased. 

It took a couple days to adjust to it, running tests to make sure everything was working fine. And boy, was Tony excited about it. Not only would he be able to help out around the house again, he’d be able to hold his son when he was born and that was the best feeling. 

Just like he promised, Tony was only in Wakanda for a few days. He invited Shuri to come around to New York sometime soon after the new Avengers HQ was finished to have a look around. As he left, he video-called Pepper to let her know that he was about to head home. She didn’t answer, which he thought was strange, but figured maybe it was just their timezone difference. 

But, while he was in the air, he got a call from Happy. “Hey Hap, what’s up?” Tony asked with a laugh, figuring maybe Morgan was being too much for him or something. 

“Tony, I’m taking Pepper to the hospital…” Happy said. “Don’t worry, Morgan’s with May and Peter.”

Sitting up, Tony put the phone on speaker so he could hear better. “Happy, what’s going on? Can you put Pepper on the phone?” 

There was movement in the background, which he assumed was Happy handing the phone over to her. “Tony?” Pepper’s voice was shaky and scared. “I’m so worried. I felt cramping earlier… what if something’s wrong with the baby?”

“Pep, it’s going to be okay. I’m headed home now. Just text me where I should meet you.” Tony said, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose while he tried to compose himself. “Pep, the baby is going to be okay. I promise. I love you.”

When he disconnected the call, Tony sat back in his seat for what was about to be the longest flight of his life.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper's in the hospital and Tony does his best to keep her calm... which is sometimes easier said than done.

Pepper had been fine the first couple days. She and Morgan were enjoying tea parties in the afternoons and snuggles on the sofa watching movies before bed. However, that next day, Happy called and invited them out to the city, May had gotten tickets to an exhibition at the Museum of Natural History and figured they might like it. But when Pepper got up that morning, something didn’t feel right. She felt pressure in her lower abdomen that reminded her of cramps. Part of her didn’t want to worry about it, because it was probably nothing, but another part of her did worry because this was technically considered a high-risk pregnancy and something _could_ be wrong. In an effort not to worry her daughter, Pepper got up and put on a happy face, driving all the way to Manhattan so they could have some fun.

Though, the fun didn’t last long. When they arrived to the museum, both Happy and May looked concerned. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look kind of pale,” May pointed out. 

“I’m fine,” Pepper brushed it off. She let Morgan go ahead with Happy and May, while she walked a few steps back. Morgan hadn’t been to this museum yet, but she seemed interested in everything it had to offer. She wondered if they’d get to come to the city more often once Tony came back with his new arm.

While they were walking to the special exhibit, Pepper hung back, trying to decide whether or not she was actually okay. Why weren’t her cramps going away? Was something seriously wrong with the baby, or was she imagining it? It wasn’t until Happy told the other two to head on inside when he went to check on her, that Pepper started to worry. “You really don’t look good,” he said quietly.

Sighing, Pepper looked at him, but before she could say anything, she stopped walking and immediately placed a hand over her bump. 

“Yep, I’m taking you to the hospital now,” Happy pointed to a bench and instructed Pepper to sit down so he could tell May what was going on. Morgan would have to stay with her right now. When he returned to Pepper, he saw her grabbing her phone and took it. “Come on, let’s go.” 

“That was Tony calling,” Pepper sighed, getting up so she could follow him back outside. 

“I’ll call him on the way to the hospital,” Happy said again as he went to the valet to get the car. Once they had the car, he dialed Tony again as they began their trek to the hospital. While Happy drove, Pepper talked to her husband and calmed down a little. 

_Pep, the baby i_ _s going to be okay. I promise. I love you._

She hung onto Tony’s words while they continued their drive to the hospital. This was supposed to be the an exciting time in their lives, Tony coming home with his new arm, welcoming this new baby, Morgan going to school soon… but now it felt as if everything was turning inside out.

Arriving at the hospital, Pepper was brought back to a room where they could monitor her vitals along with the baby’s heartbeat. She asked Happy to sit outside while she was here, because this was quite personal and even though Happy was reluctant, since he promised to keep an eye on her, he respected her wishes. While he waited, he sent Tony a few texts to let them know where they were and what room Pepper was in.

It was a while before Tony arrived back in New York. Happy had been texting him every so often, providing updates on how Pepper was doing, but couldn’t give him a more accurate update since Pepper wouldn’t allow him in the room with her. As he ran into the hospital, Tony didn’t give a damn about who was seeing his arm for the first time, because right now he needed to be with his wife.

“Pep?” Tony knocked on the door to her room, peeking his head in. It was later and she could tell he had been napping. When they made eye contact, she reached her arm out for his. “Hey, it’s okay… I’m here now.” He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over to kiss her forehead. Looking over at the different monitors, he took a quick glance at each screen. There was one with Pep’s vitals and another one that was showing a small, steady heartbeat… and he knew that the baby was fine.

Pepper closed her eyes tight so no tears could escape, but honestly that didn’t last long either. Squeezing his hand, she shook her head. “I’m so scared,” she told him. “They said something about preterm labor… and I can’t have the baby yet. There’s not a giant success rate that he’ll even live.”

“Hey… hey…” Tony reached up to stroke her hair, using his new arm that Pepper hadn’t even commented on yet. “Worrying yourself like this isn’t going to help. Take a deep breath,” he said, taking one himself to help show her that it would be okay. “When did the doctor say she’d be here?” 

“I don’t remember, soon I think,” Pepper said quietly, then noticed his arm. “Hey… that looks really nice. Oh god, I’m such a mess… we’re supposed to be celebrating _you_.”

Tony laughed, shaking his head again. “Pepper, it’s okay, You’re my main priority right now. This can wait.” Even though he was terrified about what was going on, Tony knew he needed to stay strong for Pepper. She had been there for him the past few months he had been recovering, now he could finally be there for her. Stroking her hair back again, he leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I’m not leaving you."

After what felt like a few hours, which in reality had only been about forty-five minutes, the doctor soon came in. “Ah, Mr. Stark… it’s very nice to see you,” she smiled before grabbing the tablet to look through Pepper’s chart and vitals. “I see the contractions have slowed down, that’s a good sign…” she studied the chart some more. 

“What could be causing contractions so early?” Pepper looked at her doctor. 

“There could be plenty of different things; age, diet, stress, blood pressure… but honestly, sometimes there’s really no honest answer,” she looked at Pepper. “Good news is, I think the IV is working and you weren’t dilated, so that helps a lot. I’d really like for you to stay the night here, if that’s possible, so we can further monitor your symptoms. Do you still feel the cramping?”

Pepper shook her head. “Not anymore… that stopped a while ago.” 

“Okay good,” the doctor smiled. “Because the next step would be to make sure your test results come back clear. We don’t want you or the baby to have an infection or anything serious. So, I hope you have an overnight bag packed. I’ll be back in a little bit to check on you.”

Tony thanked the doctor and after she left the room, he looked at his wife. He could tell Pepper was disappointed about having to stay overnight, but he wasn’t going argue with doctor’s orders. “Well, that’s definitely good news, right? You're not in official labor, so that means this little guy is staying put for now.” 

Pepper rolled her eyes when she heard him. She knew Tony was just trying to make her feel better. “I’m so disappointed though. Morgan was so excited about going to the museum and I ruined it.” 

“Pep… don’t worry about that. I’m sure we’ll take Morgan to the museum again soon,” he told her, leaning down to kiss her gently. “Why don’t I go home to get you clothes for tomorrow and I’ll take Morgan to get some dinner and we’ll be back here to say goodnight to you.”

“You can’t drive yet,” Pepper reminded him. “I don’t need clothes for tomorrow, I can just wear what I had on today. Just have Happy bring Morgan here for a couple hours. That way we can have dinner together and then Happy can bring her to his place for the night."

Tony nodded when he heard Pepper - she had a point. Leaning in to kiss her gently, he smiled. “Fine, you win. I’ll go find Happy and ask him to get Little Miss up here.”

However, before he could leave, Pepper took his hand. “How does it feel?” She asked, looking at the new arm. “It’s red and gold… I like it.” 

“I feel like a brand new me,” Tony said with a smile. “Well, it is a little strange, but I’ll be able to help you a lot more around the house, which is exactly what we need right now.”

~

Luckily Pepper only had to stay in the hospital for only one night. They sent her home in the afternoon with specific instructions to relax and check in with her doctor once a week. If she had any more signs of discomfort or cramping like she felt, then she’d have to be admitted back to the hospital. 

Since Tony couldn’t drive yet and Pepper was in no condition to, Happy drove them home. Morgan was already home, May and Peter had taken her back earlier that morning in Happy’s car, while Happy drove Pepper’s car since they had left it in the city. 

Leaning against her husband, Pepper had her eyes closed, but smiled when she felt Tony’s hand over her stomach. “Baby boy’s okay,” she said, turning her head to kiss his cheek.

“That’s right… and everything’s going to be okay from now on,” Tony reassured her, kissing the top of her head. “I’m going to do my best to help with everything I possibly can. You’re going to be fine Pep… the doctor thinks what happened yesterday was just a combination of stress and a couple other things. You’re at twenty weeks, it’ll be okay.” 

Nodding as she listened to Tony, Pepper put her hand over his. Of course she was worried that something like this might happen again, but she just needed to stay positive and remind herself that the baby was fine and she was okay. Hopefully there’d be no more issues like this.

When they finally made it home, Morgan was outside playing with Peter, while May watched from the porch. Getting out of the car, Pepper took Tony’s hand as they went over to meet with them. “Morguna… look who’s home.” Tony called out to her.

Turning to look at her dad, Morgan smiled the biggest smile she ever had and ran over to her parents. “Daddy!” Catching up to them, Morgan had her arms extending up and for the first time in months, Tony was able to lift his daughter up and twirled her around before putting her down. He still had a little bit more physical therapy to do now that he had the new arm, but he was already loving it. “I’m so happy your home!” Morgan hugged him tight.

Tony laughed, kissing the top of her head before setting her down. Brushing back her hair, he smiled at her. “I’m so happy to be home too,” he told her. “Now, why don’t you give Mommy a hug? Just be careful.”

Nodding, the little girl went over to her mother and wrapped her arms around Pepper’s legs. “I’m happy you’re home too, Mommy. I missed you last night.”

"Me too…” Pepper chuckled, kneeling down to hug her daughter. 

“Oh wow, is that your new arm, Mr. Stark?” Peter asked, intruding on the family moment. “That’s awesome.”

Tony shook his head, but smiled anyway when he heard Peter. “Yeah it is, designed it myself... with some help from Shuri down in Wakanda.” 

While Tony and Peter chatted about the arm, Pepper walked with Morgan over to the porch, where May and Happy were chatting. “Thank you for watching her last night,” she thanked her friends.

“It’s not a problem at all,” May said with a smile. “I’m glad to see you’re okay, worried us yesterday. Everything is okay, right?”

Pepper nodded. “Yes… the doctor is hopeful this was a one-time incident, so we’re just going to take it slow,” she said, watching as Morgan ran off toward her dad and Peter. “Sorry I was so stubborn with you yesterday."

While she was catching up to her dad and Peter, Morgan noticed something out of the corner of her eye. “Not the goji berries! Mommy will be mad!” The little girl yelled as she ran toward the animal. 

Turning around, Tony laughed when he saw his daughter running toward the animal in the yard. Peter looked over his shoulder and was shocked to see what was there. 

“Mr. Stark… is that an _alpaca_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Sorry, I just had to include the alpaca. I couldn't resist! For those who might not know what that means... look up the "Endgame" deleted scene called 'Goji Berries'. You won't be disappointed. 
> 
> Also, updates might be a little slower the next few weeks. I'm working a lot again and I will be working on some other things for Pepperony Week 2019, so stayed tuned for those. However, I'm definitely not stopping this story anytime soon. I promise. Thank you for your continued love and support for this story!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Tony and Pepper's first date since getting his new arm.
> 
> (Part of this chapter was featured as part of Pepperony Week 2019, Day Six)

After spending a few weeks recovering at home after her own health scare, Pepper was very ready to get out of the house for a few hours. Not that her time home was horrible, she was just excited to finally go on a date night with Tony. 

Ever since he came back from Wakanda and he was healing much better with his new arm, she had been looking forward to this date night for a while now. Her doctor wouldn’t allow her to go too far away from home extended periods of time, so heading to Manhattan was a ‘no-go’ until after the baby was born, so they settled on going to the next town over. 

Pepper was finishing her hair when she noticed Morgan staring at her from the doorway. “Hi there, Little Miss… what’s up?”

“Mommy, you’re so pretty,” Morgan shuffled over to her, smiling at her. “Whatcha doin’?"

Scooting over on the bench for a bit, Pepper stroked Morgan’s cheek as she brushed a piece of hair behind the little girl’s ear. “I’m getting ready for my date with Dad. We’re going to have dinner at a fancy restaurant.”

“Oh… can I come?” Morgan asked, grabbing one of her mom’s makeup brushes and pretended to put some makeup on her cheeks. 

“Not this time, but don’t worry, we’ll take you somewhere soon,” Pepper told her with a smile. Morgan had been very involved with helping get ready for the new baby: she had helped picked out the color for the baby’s room and even helped her dad and Uncle Rhodey paint it, and she had been helping her shop for the baby. But, Pepper wanted to make sure Morgan knew she was still important in all of this.

However, tonight was date night and Pepper couldn’t wait. Looking at her daughter, she chuckled and grabbed another one of her brushes and tickled the top of Morgan’s nose, smiling when her daughter giggled. “Mommy, that tickles.”

Downstairs, Tony sitting on the sofa waiting for Pepper to come down. Even though he had his new arm and was healing better, there were still days where he was in incredible pain. The scars on his body ached whenever it was about to storm, he was slowly losing his hearing and his sight on his right side every single day. Yet, his family kept him going. He was given a third chance at life and he wasn’t going to take it for granted, not this time. He had his daughter and his soon-to-be-born son to live for… and he had Pepper. Even though his body ached and he wanted to stay home with his wife and daughter, he promised to take Pepper out and she deserved it.

Soon, he heard footsteps making their way down the stairs and saw Morgan running toward him. “What’s the hurry, Morguna?” He laughed, helping her onto the sofa next to him.

“You have to close your eyes,” Morgan told her dad, waiting for him to do so before calling for her mom. “Okay Mommy!”

On her cue, Pepper came downstairs. It wasn’t like she was dressed super fancy for the Met Gala or anything, but it seemed to make Morgan happy, so she waited for her to give Tony his cue. 

“Okay Daddy, open your eyes,” Morgan told him, giving her parents a silly smile when Tony saw how spectacular Pepper looked. He couldn’t believe he was married to the most beautiful woman in the world. “Isn’t Mommy so pretty?” 

“Absolutely breathtaking,” Tony grinned when he saw Pepper. She looked stunning in her sweater dress and flats. Her hair was shiny and full, her makeup looked stunning, and growing baby bump was accentuated just right, he wondered how he got so damn lucky. Getting up, he offered his wife a hand. “May I have this dance?”

Pepper gave him a look. There wasn’t any music playing or anything, but it seemed to make Tony happy. Taking his hand, she chuckled when Tony pulled her close, placing a hand on the small of her back and he started slowly moving back and forth, allowing them to slow dance in the living room. Looking over his shoulder, she could see Morgan smiling up at them. Something about this moment seemed absolutely perfect.

Soon, Happy arrived to watch Morgan so Pepper and Tony could head out for their date night. Kneeling down so he was at his daughter’s height, he hugged and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Be good for your Uncle Happy, okay?”

“I promise!” Morgan said, wrapping her arms around her dad for a hug before going to hug her mom. “Love you both.” 

Tony was glad that he could drive again (as long as he wore his glasses). Something about all of this was so wonderful. Taking Pepper out on a date was something he was glad to be around for. The thought of Pepper sitting home alone, wallowing in her grief while raising Morgan and their soon-to-be-born son killed him. He hated knowing that he almost missed out on all of this. He might be injured and permanently damaged, but Tony was determined to be the best husband and father to his family.

“Tony…” Pepper looked at him, noticing he wasn’t listening to her anymore. “Tony…?” 

“Huh?” Tony glanced at her when he stopped at a stop light. 

Chuckling, Pepper shook her head. “Your mind is wandering,” she told him. “Everything okay?” 

“Yeah, I was just thinking about how lucky I am. I can drive again, I’m taking you on our first date since all of this, you’re doing so much better and the baby is fine… I feel like I’ve won the lottery of life.” Tony shot a grin at her before turning back toward the road, continuing to the town. He had promised Pepper dinner at a nice restaurant, but what he hadn’t told her was that he secretly rented out the whole restaurant so he could give Pepper a peaceful dinner without any issues.

“Ah, is that so?” Pepper reached over to stroke his cheek. It was still strange, seeing the scars there. She knew sometimes it hurt him, but he didn’t say anything today. “I’m glad we’re getting out of the house.” She’d been looking forward to this night for a while. “You feeling okay?”

Tony smiled when he heard her. She could tell something was up, but he didn’t want to disappoint her either. “It’s going to rain tonight,” he said, pulling into the parking lot once they made it to the little Italian place in town.

Pepper looked up at the sky, which was blue right now, but she could see the clouds rolling in. “Tony, if it hurts too much, we can take dinner home,” she told him. “I don’t want you to be in pain all night.”

Shaking his head, he put the car in park and looked at her. “No… because I think I’ll be stuck with this the rest of my life and I don’t want to stop you from wanting to do things either.” Reaching to take her hand, he squeezed it gently. “I want you to know that I’m okay. I want us to enjoy this night… we’ve waited four months for this.”

Nodding, Pepper leaned in to kiss him and smiled. “I love you so much,” she told him.

As they made their way to the restaurant, Pepper didn’t notice at first that there weren’t very many cars there and that it was eerily quiet, but as soon as they got to the doors and noticed a sign read: CLOSED FOR PRIVATE EVENT, that she realized something was up. She wouldn’t have minded if they were dining amongst others, but Tony did this for her. 

Inside the little Italian restaurant, the tables and chairs had been cleared out, leaving only one in the center of the room. The room was dimly lit with twinkling fairy lights and candles on the booths around the walls. 

The hostess brought them over to the table where a prix-fixe menu of their favorite dishes that the chef would prepare for them special tonight. A server soon came over with sparkling grape juice and poured it into two chilled wine glasses for them, since neither of them could drink, before leaving them be. 

“You did this all for me?” Pepper looked at him, smiling when he leaned in to kiss her cheek before pulling out her chair for her to sit.

“Of course I did… I had to make this night special for you,” Tony told her. Yeah, it was his first date night since basically coming back from the brink of death, but he wanted to make this night especially perfect for Pepper. “It’s the dinner I promised you five years ago… before all of this started.”

“You mean, the one you promised me before you got on that spaceship?” Pepper looked at him, shaking her head with a smile. Reaching her hand across the table, Pepper held Tony’s hand with hers, gently stroking his wedding ring, which he was now proudly wearing again. “No Tony… this is even more special than that. Thank you."

The rest of their dinner consisted of amazing food and wonderful company. Pepper felt so lucky to have Tony here with her, alive and getting better again. She couldn’t wait to spend the rest of her life with him and their children… their daughter and unborn son who would grow up with a father. It made her happier than than anything in the whole world right now. 

After eating, Tony offered his hand to his wife and pulled her up. Soon, an instrumental version of one of their favorite songs filled the room.

“May I have this dance?” Tony asked, smiling as he had danced with her earlier that evening. 

“You may,” Pepper took his hands, allowing him to pull her close as they began to sway back and forth to the music.

Holding her close, Tony kissed her forehead before resting his against hers. Soon he sang the lyrics softly so only she could hear:

_I never knew I had a dream_   
_Until that dream was you_   
_When I look into your eyes_   
_The sky's a different blue_   
_Cross my heart_   
_I wear no disguise_   
_If I tried, you'd make believe_   
_That you believed my lies..._   
_Thank you for loving me_

~

When they returned home, Happy was reading a book out on the porch when he saw them. “Don’t worry, she was fine,” he told them. Morgan always behaved when he watched her… even if it took a little extra bribing with some juice pops (but that was their secret). 

“Thank you, Happy. You’re the best,” Pepper said, hugging their friend when he stood up to greet them. “Honestly, I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Happy chuckled, shaking his head. “I’m sure you’d do just fine,” he told them, then looked at Tony. “How was your dinner? Everything go to plan?”

“Everything was absolutely perfect. Couldn’t have been a better first date back,” Tony grinned when he heard him. Though, he was already tired and started to make his way inside. He hated that one of the lasting effects from all of this was that he was constantly tired and found it hard to stay up past a specific time. It was so frustrating, but he’d rather be tired than be completely incapacitated. 

The three of them head inside so Happy could grab his things while Pepper helped Tony over to the sofa. He was getting stronger everyday, but that also took a toll on his body as well. Pepper knew that, but she hoped that meant they’d still get plenty of good years together. 

“I’ll head on out,” Happy said, grabbing his car keys from the hook by the front door.

“I’ll walk you out,” Pepper smiled, pressing a kiss to Tony’s head before heading out with Happy. “Thank you again for watching Morgan. It was strange going out without her…” she chuckled. 

Happy laughed when he heard her. “It’s okay Pep, I’m glad to help. You know I don’t mind watching the little Squirt. I’m glad that you two finally got to go on a date. Seems like it’s been a while.” 

Inside, Tony closed his eyes, yawning as he leaned back against the pillows on the sofa. He smiled to himself, thinking about how nice it had been to finally get that date with Pepper. He wasn’t sure how many they’d have before the new baby arrived, so this was nice.

“Daddy…?” Morgan’s voice soon floated above him. “Daddy, are you sleeping?” 

Tony peeked one eye open and saw Morgan standing next to him. “What are you doing up Little Miss? You’re supposed to be sleeping.” 

“How was your date?” Morgan smiled, climbing up next to her dad. “Did you dance with Mommy with the song you chose?” 

Tony grinned, remembering that he had mentioned that to her a few days ago. “I did. We had a wonderful night, but you’re supposed to be in bed and you’re going to be in a lot of trouble when Mom sees you’re awake. Uncle Happy said you were really good. Don’t want to mess that up now, do you?”

“No,” Morgan giggled, kissing his cheek before climbing down and waved to him before going back upstairs. “Night night, Daddy.” 

Just then, Pepper came back inside and locked the door behind her. Then, she heard a little giggle and a door close upstairs and she raised a brow. “Do we have a ghost living here?” 

Tony smirked, shaking his head with a chuckle. “No, you’re just hearing things,” he said. Since Morgan went straight upstairs, it was fine for tonight. But he’d talk with her about it in the morning. Smiling as Pepper sat beside him, curling up with him, he rested his hand on her stomach. “I can’t feel him moving.”

Pepper smiled, placing her hand over his and moved it around to a couple different spots. “You might not be able to feel it, but I can… he’s been so active lately. Makes me even more excited to meet him. You know… we haven’t even talked about names yet.” 

“I know… I guess I haven’t really thought about it yet.” Tony said, kissing her temple as they sat curled up together. “But I guess we really should talk about that soon, huh? Baby will be here in what again… a few months? Wow… I’m severely underprepared for this. I thought I wouldn’t be as nervous for this baby now that we’ve had some practice… but I think I’m even more worried now.” Tony began to ramble. 

“Tony… it’s okay,” Pepper looked at him. “We have time. I promise.” Leaning in to kiss him, she let her lips linger over his for a little while, smiling when she felt his hands through her hair. But then… _Ow._ She pulled back a little to see his bionic hand had gotten caught in her hair. "Tony…”

“Oh my god Pep, I’m so sorry,” Tony was mortified. He was as gentle as possible while trying to untangle his hand. “I still have a little work to do, I’m sorry.”

Once she was untangled, Pepper looked at him. “Okay… we’ll have to postpone that for another day,” she chuckled and kissed his forehead before yawning. Taking his hand, she gently pulled him up. “But I think it’s bedtime. Come on, Mr. Stark…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics at the end come from the song, "Thank You For Loving Me" by Bon Jovi. I take no credit for writing it.
> 
> Also, as stated above, part of this chapter was featured as the Day Six prompt: Endgame Fix-It, for Pepperony Week 2019.
> 
> ((AN: Now that I've gotten through my really stressful couple weeks at work and that Pepperony Week is finished, I'm hoping to start updating this one a little more regularly again, but please bear with me. Thank you!))


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Pepper's due date approaches, there's still lots to be done before the new arrival, but not without a quick reality check.

“Okay Morguna, hand me that brush right there,” Tony held his hand out while Morgan handed him the wide paint brush. “No, the other one.”

“Oops,” the little girl giggled, handing him the paint roller. “Do you think Mommy will be surprised?” She asked, looking up at her dad while he painted the wall a deep green color. They had agreed on a safari theme for baby brother’s room and she was super excited for it. “How much longer until baby brother gets here?”

Tony chuckled when he heard her. Morgan asked about it everyday, becoming more increasingly impatient while waiting for the baby. If you asked Pepper, it was both endearing and _slightly_ annoying. But Tony thought it was amazing. He never had a sibling before, so this was slightly terrifying to him, but he was just as excited, because he’d be able to be here for them both. 

“Just a couple more months, Morguna. Believe me, Mom’s not ready for him to arrive yet,” Tony laughed as he rolled the paint onto the wall in effortless swipes. “Remember, babies arrive when they chose to, not when we want them. You were a few days late,” he told her. It always cemented his beliefs that since Morgan arrived a few days late, that she was just like him. Hopefully that’d get better as she got older. 

The little girl sighed. “That’s _forever_ ,” she looked at him. “Maybe he’ll come early. That way I can play with him sooner.”

“Well…” Tony was going to warn her that she wouldn’t be able to play with the new baby as soon as he was born, but decided against that. Pepper could have that conversation with her again. Once he had the last of the paint on the wall, Tony stood back to look at their progress. “What do you think? Once this dries, we’ll just have to add on the wallpaper Mommy picked out and then it’ll be done.”

“I think she’ll love it!” Morgan jumped, grinning at her dad. “Can we show her now?” 

Shaking his head, he handed her the brush to put back in the paint. “Not yet, it has to dry. But we can show her when she gets back from her appointment, how’s that sound?”

Agreeing to those terms, Morgan hugged her dad before taking his hand. “We have to water the plants before Mommy gets home too. You promised.”

“Ah yes, that’s right,” Tony grinned when he heard his daughter. “Then let’s go outside. Grab that so we can wash them,” he pointed to some of the other brushes they hadn’t used. Grabbing the paint, Tony walked downstairs with them, waiting for Morgan to follow him onto the porch, so they could get everything cleaned up. “I’ll start cleaning these, why don’t you start watering the plants?”

Morgan nodded, putting her things down before going to find the watering can. “Hi Gerald!” She smiled at the alpaca who was grazing on some grass nearby. Sometimes they found him sneaking things from the garden, but he was getting better about it. Grabbing the watering can, she filled it up before bringing it over to the vegetable garden that she and her mom tended to. 

While they were outside, Tony soon heard the slam of a car door. Looking up, he saw Happy helping Pepper up from the passenger side. Since Pepper was limited from being able to do certain things, they’d be getting help from friends and family. Waving to his wife, Tony noticed she didn’t look the happiest, but he figured it was probably because baby boy was sitting on her bladder or something. 

“Hey honey,” Tony greeted his wife, but held up his hands. “I’d give you a hug, but they’re covered in paint right now. Hey, what’s wrong?” 

Pepper shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it right now,” she told him. “I’m going to take a nap.”

“Okay…” Tony was a little surprised, then looked to Happy, who shrugged. “Everything okay?”

“Sorry, she didn’t say anything on the way to or from,” Happy shrugged. “Want me to watch Morgan for a bit?” 

“Nah, she’s just watering the plants. But thanks, Hap.” Tony said, waving goodbye to his friend before heading inside. Pepper was in the kitchen, prepping herself a cup of tea. “Pep, what happened?” Moving to the sink so he could wash the paint off his hand, he glanced back at her.

Looking at her husband, Pepper sighed. “Doctor says my blood pressure is too high. She’s worried that I’ll put myself in early labor if I’m not careful. Which you know, stresses me out even more. So it’s this never-ending cycle that will only get worse,” she rambled.

“Pep, breathe.” Tony quickly dried his hands off before looking at his wife, pulling her in for an awkward hug, which at this stage in her pregnancy was all they could manage right now. “What did the doctor suggest you do?” 

“Wants me to take it easy, cease all work for now.” Pepper sighed. “Which frustrates me because we were working on finalizing a few foundation causes.”

“I can work on those, you know. I am technically the other co-founder of the foundation,” Tony looked at her. “So, why don’t you fill me in on what’s going on tomorrow morning, I’ll call your assistant, and we’ll figure it out. See, taken care of.”

Pepper sighed, rested her head against his cheek. “It’s just annoying. I knew this going in that it would be a high-risk pregnancy. It was with Morgan, but this feels a million times worse. That’s how I know this baby’s yours.”

Tony laughed when he heard her. “Thanks… I think,” he kissed her temple, pulling back to look at her. “Yes, the pregnancy has been harder this time around, but you’re doing an amazing job. You’re growing life, how fantastic is that? Everything’s going to work out okay, I promise.”

“Don’t promise things you have no control over,” Pepper reminded him, but smiled when she felt his hands on her stomach. “He was moving around a lot during the appointment, couldn’t even get a good look on the ultrasound because he kept moving.” 

“What a little stinker,” Tony laughed, pressing a kiss against her forehead. “Still want to take a nap? Because Morguna and I were about to water the garden.” When she nodded, he smiled. “Okay, we’ll try to keep it down. Enjoy your nap.” 

When Pepper disappeared to their bedroom, Tony chuckled to himself before heading back outside so he could help Morgan with the garden. “How’s it going, Morguna?” He asked with a smile, grabbing the other watering can so he could help.

“Fine…” Morgan said, as she was watering the blueberry plant. “Is Mommy okay?” 

“Of course she is,” Tony smiled when he heard her. “She’s just tired and went to take a nap. Now, what do we still have to water?”

~

Later that night, Pepper was looking through the mail while Tony finished up the dishes from dinner. “You know, we’re going to need to figure out Morgan’s schooling soon. We have to enroll her by the start of summer.” 

“Yeah, I know… I guess I don’t really want to,” Tony said, back turned while he was scrubbing the casserole pan. “How is she already starting preschool?”

Pepper chuckled when she heard him. “I don’t know, crazy how time flies right?” She smiled at him. “I know she really liked the school we took her to the open house for, right? That’s the one right in town. I think she’d fit in nicely.” 

Tony nodded as he listened to her. They decided they weren’t moving back to the city, so Morgan wouldn’t have to be in the public eye. It made him wonder if they were hindering her at all, but he also realized this was giving her the best chance at living a normal childhood. “It’d only be Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a half day right?”

“Yes, preschool for a school year, then kindergarten the following fall,” she explained. “I think that’d be a good adjustment for her. Then we’d get time to spend with the baby and she’d get to school for a few hours and then still have plenty of time at home too. But we’ll have to decide soon, the application is due at the end of the month.” 

Putting the pan on the dish rack to dry, Tony dried off his hands before leaning over the kitchen island to kiss his wife. “Okay, we can go through it tomorrow. I promise. Now, there’s something Morgan and I want to show you before she goes to bed.” 

“Oh?” Pepper raised a brow, looking at him. “A surprise for me?”

Tony grinned and went to find their daughter. “Morguna? Ready to show mom what we worked on earlier today?” 

Morgan popped up from her spot on the floor. She had been coloring some pictures in her coloring book, but was so ready to show her mom what they had been working on. “Mommy, you’re gonna love it!” The little girl said, taking her mother’s hand as she went upstairs with her. 

Pepper smiled as Morgan led her upstairs. She glanced back at Tony and saw the smile on his face, so she knew it was going to be a good one. Morgan stopped in front of the door of what was going to be the new baby’s nursery and looked at her mom. “Close your eyes!” She told her. “Daddy, hold her hand.” 

Tony took Pepper’s hand and once her eyes were closed, the two of them led her into the room. Most of the overwhelming paint scent had dissipated, but she could still tell it was freshly painted. They placed Pepper in the middle of the room and Tony squeezed her hand before Morgan told her to open her eyes. When she did, Pepper’s breath was taken away. Not only was the room painted the perfect shade of green that she wanted, they had already gotten some of the furniture up and staged just the way she envisioned it. 

“Oh, this is amazing,” Pepper smiled at them. “The green looks amazing in here… and that accent wall is perfect.” She went to examine the wallpaper they had chosen. Everything looked perfect. The baby wouldn’t even be sleeping here the first few months, but she loved it regardless. “Thank you so much. This is so nice,” she told them both. Opening her arms, Morgan ran in for a hug. “Does this make you excited for the new baby?”

“Yes!” Morgan said, hugging her mom back. “I can’t wait to play with him. I’m happy you love your surprise, Mommy.” 

Pepper chuckled as she looked at Tony, leaning in to press a quick kiss against his lips. “Thank you both so much, this makes my night so much better.” 

After the reveal, Pepper said goodnight before Tony went to tuck Morgan in for bed. While he did that, she went downstairs to get herself a cup of nighttime tea brewing and she’d probably retire for the night. However, while she was doing that, she got an alert from FRIDAY that someone was pulling into the driveway. It wasn’t super late outside, but she knew they weren’t expecting any company. However, it was the AI’s next announcement that interested in.

_Peter Parker is approaching the front door_ , the AI chimed in. 

Pepper was at the door before Peter could even knock. “Peter… what's going on? How on Earth did you get out here and on a school night?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to make it known now that I've rewatched "Avengers: Endgame" since it came out on Blu-Ray, that Tony's nickname for Morgan is "Maguna" (at least, according to the subtitles). However, since I've already established one of her (multiple) nicknames as "Morguna", that's how I will address it throughout the rest of this fic. It was one of those things, where I thought he said "Maguna", but everyone else adopted it as "Morguna" and it stuck. Either way it's cute.
> 
> Also, I'd like to thank you for your continued support for this story. I know I say it every chapter, but your comments and kudos mean more to me than you'll ever know. Sometimes I wonder why I'm even writing these stories, but then I read your comments or see the kudos and know that this is making someone's day better and that's what gives me the courage to keep writing and posting. I'm hoping to make these next few chapters very interesting so I won't lose anyone's interest!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A surprise visit from Peter throws Tony off when his post-Avengers retirement plans are revealed too early, meanwhile Pepper has some unfinished business regarding honoring a certain Avenger to work on before their baby is due, which is creeping quicker than she hoped.

Staring at the teen standing on their porch, Pepper shook her head. Peter was always welcome at the cabin, but it was late and she had no idea what he was here for. “Peter?”

“Sorry to bother you Miss Potts. I know it’s late and I’m probably interrupting something, but there’s something I have to talk to Mr. Stark about,” the teen said, looking at her with wide eyes. “It’s important.”

Pepper didn’t remember Tony mentioning that he needed to talk with Peter about something, but there was the off chance he told her and she forgot because of damn pregnancy brain. “Okay… well, he’s getting Morgan ready for bed right now, so it’ll be a minute. Everything okay?” 

“Yeah, yeah… everything’s fine,” Peter said, crossing his arms over his chest as Pepper invited him inside. “Also, don’t worry, May knows I’m here.” 

Nodding, Pepper closed the door once Peter was inside and she went into the kitchen to grab the tea she had been getting before getting the door. “Can I get you anything? She asked the teen, looking at him, but he shook his head. She still thought it was strange that Tony wouldn’t have mentioned needing to talk with Peter. Especially now that he was retired.

Soon, Tony came downstairs. “Madame Secretary is tucked in and asleep…” he paused when he realized Peter was in the room. “Pete… what are you doing here?” 

“I need to talk to you about something,” Peter looked at his mentor. “Can we talk?”

Tony glanced at Pepper who shrugged. “Okay… let’s go outside. But I swear, if you wake Morgan up, you’re forbidden from coming back here.” 

“I promise I won’t,” Peter said as they went outside to the back porch. 

While they went to talk, Pepper grabbed her tablet before heading back to the sofa with the tablet and her tea. She could feel the baby kicking as she sat down. “Hey… settle down there,” she said to her bump. Pulling up a document she had been working on for the charity, she did her best to not listen into Tony’s conversation with Peter outside, but she was curious as to what they were talking about.

Once they were outside, Peter pulled out a glasses case from his backpack. “Mr. Stark, what is this and why was it sent to me?” Opening up the case, he revealed a pair of high-tech glasses with a Stark Industries business card inside that read: _To the next Iron Man, I trust you - TS._ The teen looked at him, eyes shiny with tears that threatened to fall. "What does this mean?” 

“Oh… you weren’t supposed to get those yet,” Tony looked at the teen. “Those were supposed to be for you in the event I died.” 

“So they are for me, but I can’t be the next Iron Man… Mr. Stark, that’s not…” Peter started to ramble as he offered the case back to Tony. “You’re not dead, so I can’t take these. You shouldn’t have left them for me. I could _never_ be the next Iron Man. That’s always been you.” 

Shaking his head, Tony smiled before looking at Peter. “Kid, listen to me. Iron Man will always be a part of me, but I’m retired now. There’s no more missions for me, no more putting on the suit, no more getting into danger. I’m done. But now that everyone’s back… there’s room for a new team. Avengers for a new generation. I left these with you for a reason. I trust you to keep them safe and I trust you to use them.”

Peter looked at the glasses in his hands, still not believing what he was holding. “Mr. Stark, that’s a big responsibility.” 

“Sure is,” Tony agreed with a chuckle, sitting down on the bench. “You’re not going to understand what it means right away and you definitely won’t get the hang of it on the first use, but Pete… I trust you.”

“Mr. Stark, I really don’t know what to say.” Peter looked at the glasses in his hands. “Thank you…?"

Tony laughed as he invited the teen to sit down beside him. “Just make sure you keep those safe, don’t want those to get into the wrong hands. That’s all I’m asking.” 

“What do they even do?” Peter asked, taking the glasses from the case, closely inspecting them.

“I’m not going to tell you,” Tony chuckled again, looking at his protégé. “You’ll know when you’re ready. Now… when are you going on that class trip again?” 

“Soon. It’s kind of crazy, I didn’t think they’d let us go and I definitely didn’t think May would let me go, but everyone seems to agree that we all need this…” Peter began to ramble again, but Tony couldn’t help but smile as he listened to the teen. Even though it was Peter that had missed out on the past five years, it was great catching up with him now. It was almost like nothing had ever happened. “Mr. Stark…?”

Tony soon came back into focus and he looked at Peter. “Sorry kid, lost in my thoughts,” he chuckled and shifted in his seat. “How did you get out here again?” 

“I have my ways,” Peter smiled at him. He was quiet for a moment, looking up at the sky and observing all the stars. He remembered coming to visit them when they still lived in the city sometimes, but this was completely different. He was still blown away by how quiet and serene it was out here. “It’s crazy quiet out here… do you ever miss the city?” Peter eventually spoke up, looking back at Tony. 

“Sometimes, but not really. The first couple years out here were really strange, but now there’s no where else I’d rather be,” Tony chuckled.

“There’s still so much I missed out on. May is a wreck sometimes, so I’m actually surprised she’s letting me go on this trip to Europe… five years doesn’t seem like a long time, but right now it feels like a lifetime…” Peter began rambling. “I mean really, you’re _married_ now. Even that seems crazy.”

Scoffing, Tony looked at him. “Hey now, Pep and I are very happy. Thank you very much.” 

“Mr. Stark… do you think about that day… You know, the day you snapped away Thanos?” Peter looked at him. “Because I do… _all_ the time. Like, you almost died or you did and they brought you back to life or whatever. But still, that was insane.” 

“Sure was,” Tony nodded his head, looking at the teen. “Pete… make sure you talk to someone about it, because it’s not good holding all of that in. I mean, really. Back in 2012, that first battle in New York, realizing there were things that existed that couldn’t be explained… it really messed with me. So don’t be afraid to talk to someone about it."

Listening to his mentor, Peter nodded with a smile. “Yeah… okay. That’s a good idea. And Mr. Stark, I’m really glad you have this now.” 

“Me too… and Pete, it’s a school night. Shouldn’t you be home and getting some sleep? Come on, Morgan needs some role models and you’re definitely setting a bad example,” Tony teased with a grin. “Look, maybe I’ll stop by the lab soon to come see you guys, but I make no promises.”

Peter laughed as he stood up and stretched. “Okay, okay… I’ll get going. Thank you for the glasses, Mr. Stark. I won’t let you down.” 

Tony shook his head with a laugh as he waved goodbye to Peter. He watched the teen disappear down the driveway, but there was no car or anything to take him back. He wondered how the hell he even got here, but he’d figure that out another day. Heading back inside, he saw Pepper had nodded off on the sofa, the tablet resting on her belly. Leaning over to kiss her cheek, he chuckled when she stirred.

“I thought you two were having a campout because it took so long,” Pepper smiled as she opened her eyes. “Everything okay?” 

“Yeah, everything’s fine. But I think it’s your bedtime. Come on,” Tony offered his hand to help her up. Getting off the sofa, Pepper kissed Tony’s cheek before putting her mug in the kitchen sink. While she did that, Tony turned the lights off and when they were both ready, he took her hand and led her upstairs so they could get to bed.

~

“What about Thomas?” Tony asked before sipping his coffee. “That was your father’s name, wasn’t it?” 

“No… well, that was his name, but I don’t think it works for our son,” Pepper said as she was cutting up some banana to put in her oatmeal. “It’s like me suggesting we name him Howard and I thought we definitely weren’t doing that.” 

Tony nodded, knowing she had a point. “You know, during our whole time-heist… I met him.” 

“Your dad? I mean, isn’t that a given?” Pepper brought over her breakfast and sat beside him.

“Someone’s sassy today,” Tony looked at his wife with a teasing grin. “I meant that I met him at a time before I was born… weeks before I was born, actually. It was _strange_. Let’s just say he wasn’t my role model as a child, I understand him a little more now than I did before, but not by much.” 

Nodding as she listened to him, Pepper reached over to take his hand. “I know things were complicated between you and your father. Whatever happened when you went back in time, that’s between you and him, I won’t judge you for it. Just know that your daughter thinks the world of you and you’re the most amazing dad. I know our son is going to look up to you too.” 

Smiling when he heard her, Tony shook his head. “I don’t know how you do that, but you do…” he chuckled, gently squeezing her hand. “Okay, so those names are crossed off the list. What about…”

“How about James? James Hogan Stark?” Pepper cut in, looking at him. 

“After Rhodey and Happy? Nah, their egos are too big anyway,” Tony laughed. He was just about finished with his coffee when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. “Morning Little Miss… how did you sleep?” 

Morgan rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she crawled over to her dad, Tony helped her up to sit on his lap. “I’m sleepy…” she said, resting herself against him. “Where’s Pete?” 

“Peter? He’s not here,” Pepper said, getting up to grab Morgan’s breakfast. “Why did you think that?”

“I heard him and Daddy talking last night,” Morgan smiled at her parents. 

Pepper shot Tony a look, shaking her head when he shrugged. Tony chuckled, kissing the top of Morgan’s head while he held onto her. “Sorry about that… we were trying to be quiet,” he told his daughter. “No, Peter went back home already because he had school today. But we might see him eventually, because he’s going on his trip soon.” 

“His vacation?” Morgan looked at her dad.

“Sort of,” he chuckled again. “Now eat up. We’ve got somethings to do today.”

“Were you and Mommy talking about baby brother?” Morgan asked, thanking her mom for the oatmeal when Pepper put it in front of her.

Sitting down again, Pepper grabbed her bowl of oatmeal, smiling when she heard her daughter. “Yes we were… we’re trying to figure out what baby brother’s name should be. Since we can’t call him baby brother his whole life!”

Morgan laughed when she heard her mom. “You’re being silly,” she said, eating some of her breakfast. “Can we name him after Gerald?” She gave her mom the most ‘serious’ face she had.

“The alpaca!? Absolutely not,” Pepper laughed when she heard her daughter. Morgan broke out of her serious face and giggled. “We haven’t settled on anything yet. It’s not like when we named you, yours was easy."

That intrigued the little girl. “How did you pick my name?”

Looking over at Tony, Pepper smiled. “You want to tell her?” 

“It was a dream,” Tony gently squeezed his daughter. “One night I had dream that we had a baby and it was named after Mom’s uncle Morgan. He was a really awesome person. So when you came along, we decided Morgan was the perfect name for you."

“Can’t you have a dream about baby brother’s name?” Morgan looked puzzled. “Maybe the dream will pick the best one.” 

Tony chuckled and kissed the top of her head. “That’s not a bad idea,” he said, encouraging her to finish her breakfast. Looking at Pepper, he shrugged. So far he hadn’t any dreams that told him anything about this new baby, but maybe they’d come up with something eventually. “What would you like to do today, Little Miss?”

“Hmm…” Morgan’s mouth was full as she thought about it.

“I have a conference call this afternoon,” Pepper reminded him, smiling when she saw the look of concern on his face. “It’s the last project I’m working on before I’m on leave. I’m only phoning in, doctor’s orders. This one is important to me, I don’t want to miss it.” 

“Okay then… so Mommy can’t join us this afternoon,” Tony chuckled and looked at his daughter. “How about we go to the farmer’s market up the road? Maybe get some ice cream too. After Mommy’s call, we can finish putting together the furniture for baby brother’s room."

Morgan liked that idea. Finishing up her breakfast, she slid off her dad’s lap and grabbed her bowl to put into the sink. Soon, the little girl disappeared upstairs to get dressed. 

While Morgan was changing, Pepper looked over at Tony. “I told you I had a conference call today. Remember, we’re opening the family centers soon.” 

Tony had to think about it, but nodded. “Oh right… the ones for Natasha.” 

“Yep… the ones for Natasha. We have the one in New York opening this year, then two more in the city and one in DC opening next year,” Pepper told him. Grabbing the tablet, she showed him the press release: 

**THE NATASHA ROMANOFF RECREATION CENTER**  
_Named for the Avenger that gave her life to save the_ _world, the Stark Relief Foundation, in conjunction with the Avengers and the city of_ _New_ _York, herby dedicates this building to a new_ _after school_ _center for children and families alike, the NATASHA ROMANOFF RECREATION CENTER will offer_ _multiple_ _study lounges, a library, a_ _fully-equip gym center (including dance studios and a basketball court), and more to families and children city-wide..._

Putting the tablet down, Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, nodding. “It sounds great… I know she worked really hard to keep kids safe during the snap,” he sighed softly. “It’s still not fair. I didn’t want Natasha to give her life for the cause. She wanted to fix this more than anyone and she’s not even here to live in it,” he sighed. “It’s not fair.” 

Reaching over to touch his hand, Pepper nodded. “I know… but she wouldn’t have done it if she didn’t think it was the right thing to do, which is why we’re going to make sure the world knows what Natasha did for the cause. I just hope people don’t think we’re doing this for the notoriety… I know I may not have always gotten along with Natasha, but she’s a hero. It’s not fair that there’s only murals on the wall for you.” 

Tony nodded, lifting her hand to his lips. “I know it’ll mean a lot to them, Pepper… thank you for helping recognize that,” he told her. “I mean, if you don’t want there to be a lot of murals with me, I’m sure I can get some people to create something for Nat.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” Pepper smiled when she heard him. Soon, Morgan came stomping down the stairs again. “Oh, sounds like Little Miss is ready. You might want to get going.” 

“Okay, okay. I’m going,” Tony laughed, kissing the back of his wife’s hand again before getting up to get changed. 

Morgan came over where Pepper was sitting at the table. “How much longer until baby brother is born?” She asked, pressing her hand against her mom’s belly. 

Chuckling, Pepper ran her hand through Morgan’s hair and looked at her. “You’re really excited aren’t you?” Smiling when Morgan nodded, she guided her daughter’s hand to where the baby was moving. “He’ll be here soon, Little Miss. Don’t you worry, baby brother will be here when he’s ready."

Morgan dramatically sighed when she heard her mom and Pepper couldn’t help but laugh. “You sound just like your dad. Don’t worry, he’ll be here soon enough. Now, why don’t you go outside and feed the chickens. Daddy will be there in a minute.”

Kissing her mom’s cheek, Morgan soon ran out the door to do what her mom suggested she’d do. Tony soon returned downstairs and pressed a kiss to his wife’s cheek. “We’ll be outside. I’ll say goodbye before we go. Don’t work too hard, promise?”

“Promise,” Pepper smiled back. “See you soon.”

Grabbing her tablet and her decaf coffee, Pepper went to sit on the porch outside while she worked a little before her conference call. There was still so much she needed to get done before their little boy arrived, and she was worried it wasn’t going to get done. 

While she was looking through her email, she spotted something unusual marked as spam: _Beck, Quentin (R &D, Stark Industries). _“What does that asshole want now?” She flagged the message to have FRIDAY look into it so she could focus on other more important things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your continued support!
> 
> (( I was really anxious about posting this chapter because of everything that's happened regarding Spider-Man and the MCU in the past few days, because I know it's kind of controversial in the fandom currently. But, I'd been working on this chapter way before the news broke this week anyway, so I decided to keep it. I like the idea of Tony leading and shaping Peter into becoming a stronger Avenger and that's the direction I'm aiming for my story to be. Whether or not you like that is entirely up to you, because I respect everyone's opinions... I'm just worried about a lot of things... Okay, I'll stop now because I'm making this big deal when it doesn't need to be. ANYWAY, the next few chapters are going to be fun... I promise. ))


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Morgan's first day of preschool and Pepper's emotions are put to test as the Stark's learn to deal with this new big change in their lives.

The next few months went like a blur and honestly, Pepper was freaking out. When she had been pregnant with Morgan, she felt like she had been pregnant forever, especially since their daughter was born a week after her due date. Now, with only a few weeks left before their son was due, it felt like there was still so much to do and get ready for, and she wasn’t ready whatsoever.

Except this morning was different… it was Morgan’s first day of preschool.

“No… I don’t wanna.” Morgan crossed her arms over her little chest and shook her head. “I don’t wanna go to school. I wanna stay home with you and baby brother.”

Pepper chuckled when she heard her daughter. “Morgan, the baby isn’t due for another few weeks, so you’ve got to go to school. You were so excited to go to school, what happened?” 

The little girl shrugged, eating a few more berries that were on her plate. “I dunno… I don’t wanna. It’s _scary_.” 

Glancing over at her husband, Pepper hoped maybe he would cut into the conversation. It wasn’t like Morgan was going to school full time. It was just preschool a few days a week. They’d taken her to the school to meet everyone and her teacher seemed really nice. Though, she figured maybe she could understand where some of Morgan’s reservations were coming from. For the past four years, their daughter had barely left their side.

“It’s only scary because it’s something you haven’t done before,” Pepper told her daughter. “But, Daddy and I both went to school before, it can be lots of fun.” She noticed Tony looked over at her and she gave him the look to stay quiet on that subject. They had both agreed they’d give their daughter the most normal life she could possibly have, but there were risks with that too. “It’s going to be okay, Little Miss. You know what, I bet you’re going to have so much fun today. So much that Daddy and I are going to miss you so much.” 

Morgan’s eyes got wide when she heard her mom. “I don’t want you and Daddy to be lonely!” She said, bottom lip trembling. 

Tony saw the way Morgan’s eyes were watering and her little lip was trembling and he looked over at Pepper, who shook her head. She knew what he wanted to tell their daughter that she could skip today, but she couldn’t let that happen. Sighing, Tony looked over at Morgan. “Come here, Morguna…” 

Morgan slid off her chair and came over to her dad, who opened up his arms so she could sit in his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, Tony kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to be lonely. I promise. Mommy just means she’s so excited for you to go to school and it’s going to be strange with you out of the house for a few hours, but a good kind of strange.” 

“Like Dr. Strange?” Morgan asked, scrunching her nose with a silly smile on her face.

“Kind of… wait, how do you know who Dr. Strange is?” Tony looked at her, chuckling when she smiled. Kissing the top of her head again, he smiled. “It’s going to be okay Morguna… I’m sure you’re going to have a great time. Maybe if you’re good we can get ice cream on our way home.” 

That cheered her up. Morgan wrapped her arms around her dad for a hug. “Promise?” 

“If you behave, Morguna…” Tony laughed and hugged her back. “Now, finish your breakfast so we can get going.”

The little girl nodded, grabbing the last of her breakfast off her plate and ate it in two bites. Soon, she slid off her dad’s lap so she could finish getting ready for school. While she was upstairs, Pepper looked over at her husband, shaking her head. 

“What…? I got her to go to school, didn’t I?” Tony laughed, taking a drink of coffee. “Didn’t you just tell her it was going to be okay? I know you’re going to miss her a lot.” 

“Don’t get me started,” Pepper grabbed her coffee mug, taking a long sip of the decaf in front of her. She was trying to hide the fact that she was emotional about it, but she didn’t want to upset Morgan any more than she already was and that was fact. 

Tony laughed when he saw the shine in Pepper’s eyes and knew that she’d definitely cry the moment they dropped their daughter off at school. “Aww Pep, she’s only going to be gone for a few hours. C’mere.” He reached over to pat her shoulder before wiping a few tears off her cheeks. “Man… if you’re crying now, what’s going to happen when she goes to kindergarten?” 

“Stop!” Pepper sighed as she wiped her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself. “It’s because I’m already emotional about it. Don’t remind me.”

Getting up from his seat, Tony stretched before leaning over to kiss the top of Pepper’s head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you upset. Morgan’s going to be just fine. I promise. Now, are you coming with me to drop her off, or do you want to stay here?” He knew Pepper got tired being on her feet a lot at this stage of her pregnancy, so he was fine if she didn’t want to join him.

“Of course I want to be there,” Pepper got up from her chair. “I’ll change in a minute.” 

While Tony disappeared upstairs, Pepper grabbed her tablet to look through a few things. For the past few months, she had been receiving a message from Quentin Beck almost weekly. She never replied to the messages, keeping them flagged as ’Spam’ while FRIDAY compiled them all. The crazy part was, he hadn’t been threatening them or the company, but most the emails were nonsense, so she was having the AI monitor them just in case. “FRIDAY, anything new this morning?” 

_I've_ _been compiling all messages received from Mr. Beck as you've_ _requested. The messages appear to have no correlation, most of them are sent between the hours of 0400-0700 in the morning. I will continue to monitor the messages and alert you if a new pattern emerges._

“Yes, thank you,” Pepper set the tablet down before getting up so she could get ready to take Morgan to school. Biting back some more tears, she did her best to not get super emotional around her daughter, so she wouldn’t worry her any more than she already was. 

While Pepper finished getting ready, Tony helped Morgan grab the last of her things she needed for school before escorting her outside while they waited for Pepper. 

“What’s school gonna be like?” The little girl sat beside her dad on the bench outside.

Tony chuckled when he heard his daughter. “Well, it’s preschool, so there’s not going to be anything super hard, I promise you.” Wrapping his arm around her, he smiled. “It’s going to be lots of fun. You’re going to meet other kids your age and make new friends.” At least, he hoped she would. They were hoping Morgan would get to have the most normal childhood possible, so hopefully she wouldn’t be alienated because she’s a Stark. 

Soon, Pepper appeared outside. She was dressed as comfortably as possible for the quick trip to Morgan’s school. Smiling at father and daughter, she grabbed her phone to take a picture. “Smile you two,” she said, chuckling when Morgan gave her a super big smile as Tony made bunny ears behind her head. 

“Mommy, you have to get in a picture too!” Morgan told her, getting up from her spot on the bench to go hug her. “Daddy, take our picture!” 

Grabbing his phone, Tony held it up to take a picture when he saw a missed call from an unknown number. He hesitated for a moment, but soon gave his family a smile. “Okay, say cheese.” 

Once the pictures were taken, Morgan went to say goodbye to the animals before piling into the car. Pepper struggled for a moment to get in, but was soon in her seat and buckled. “Hey, everything okay?” she looked at Tony. “You were looking at your phone pretty intensely.” 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just the morning news,” Tony smiled at her. Once they were ready to go, Tony put the car in drive and began the trip to Morgan’s new school. Pepper was nervous, but she had a feeling that once Morgan was there, she’d be just fine. Plus, like Tony said, it was only a few hours. 

Pulling into the parking lot of the preschool, Tony pulled into a spot and parked the car. “Okay Little Miss… here we are,” he looked back at Morgan. “Ready?” 

Morgan squirmed in her seat, but looked at her dad with a smile. “Yeah.”

Getting out of the car, Tony chuckled as he helped Pepper out of her seat. She looked equally over being pregnant and doing her best to keep herself from not crying in front of Morgan and honestly, it was hilarious. Though, he bit his tongue to keep himself from laughing, because he knew he’d be in big trouble later if he laughed. Once Pepper was out of the car, he went over to Morgan’s side and opened the door. 

Bouncing out of the car, Morgan grabbed her backpack and reached up to take her Mom’s hand. Pepper smiled at her, squeezing her hand gently. “It’s okay honey,” she told her. “You’re going to have lots of fun. Remember your teacher’s name? We met her a little while ago, remember?”

“Miss Morris…” Morgan said with a smile. “She was really nice.” 

“Yes she was,” Tony joined in the conversation as they walked up to the school. “And you remember that you have to be quiet and polite while you listen to the teacher when she tells you things, right?” 

“Yes,” Morgan nodded as she bounced along as she held onto her mom’s hand. “Will I get to make lots of friends?”

Pepper was surprised by her daughter’s question and she looked at her. “If you want to,” she told her. “I know it’ll be scary talking to some of the other kids there, but I’m sure they’ll be nervous too and that’s okay. Just say hello to them and ask them how they’re doing.” 

The little girl nodded and soon they were headed inside. Tony hesitated for a minute, wondering if he went in how would other people react. Would they take their attention away from their daughter and pay attention to only him, or would they just politely acknowledge them and be on their way. It was one of those things that started to worry him. Soon Morgan’s voice tugged him out of his thoughts.

“Daddy?” Morgan gently tugged his arm. “Are you coming?”

Tony smiled and walked inside the school, walking with their daughter hand in hand as they went up to her classroom. He could hear Pepper take a sharp breath and exhale slowly. “You okay?”

Pepper looked at him with shiny eyes and nodded. “I’m fine, come on. It’s not your daughter’s first day of preschool everyday,” she said, pulling him inside the classroom. 

The teacher was near the door, greeting each set of students and their parents. Morgan looked up at her and hid behind her parents. 

“Good morning,” Miss Morris greeted them, then looked at her clipboard with the attendance sheet on it.. “You must be…"

“Morgan H. Stark!” Morgan nodded, still hiding behind her mother. 

The teacher nodded, checking her off the list and looked at them again. “It’s wonderful to see you again, Morgan. You can go ahead and find your cubby to put your backpack up and the other kids are over there playing.” 

The little girl hesitated, but soon Pepper took her hand and led her over to where the cubbies were. “It’s okay, Little Miss… nothing to worry about here. I promise.” Helping Morgan with her backpack, Pepper looked at all the other little kids who were already playing with the toys in the classroom and mingling. “Morgan, don’t you want to join them?” 

Morgan shook her head, grabbing her dad’s hand. “I’m scared.” 

Kneeling down to look at his daughter, Tony smiled. “It’s okay to be scared. This is new for you and you don’t know what’s going to happen and that’s okay. But you know what? The only way you’ll figure out what it’s like is if you jump right in.”

“Like I jump off the dock into the lake?” Morgan asked and Tony grinned. 

“Just like that. A leap of faith.” Tony said, kissing the top of her head. “I get scared and nervous about a lot of things, but I have a feeling you’ll have a great time today. Okay? Now give us a quick hug and go on.”

Morgan hugged her parents one last time before going over to the other group of kids. She was hesitant at first, but soon fit right in. 

Taking his wife’s hand, Tony led Pepper out of the classroom and back out to the car. He could hear his wife sniffling, trying her best not to lose it in the school, but she wasn’t doing a good job. “You okay, Potts?” He teased, smiling over at her.

“I’m fine,” she sighed, squeezing his hand as they made their way back to the car. “I’m ready to go home and not have to move much at all. I’m very ready for this baby to come.” 

“You say that, yet there’s still a lot to be done,” Tony teased as he helped Pepper into her seat and kissed her cheek. “Okay, no one’s watching. You can cry now if you need to.” He could hear Pepper scoff as he closed the door and went over to the driver’s side of the car. 

Once they were en route back to the cabin, Tony couldn’t help but occasionally look over at Pepper to see how she was doing. She was quiet and wiping away stray tears, but overall was doing okay. “You know she’ll be okay. This is just the next step in life.” 

“I know,” Pepper laughed when she heard him, sniffling a little as she tried to contain her tears. 

On the drive home, Pepper thought to herself about how crazy this was. Their daughter was starting preschool and soon they’d have their baby boy. Life was wonderful and she loved it. Then she heard her phone go off. Glancing at the message, she sighed. 

“What’s up?” Tony asked, glancing at her. 

“Doctor wants me to come in to discuss the latest test results,” she looked at him. It had been a couple weeks since her last appointment, so she figured things were fine and they’d just check up at her appointment next week. “Might as well go since we’re out right?”

Tony nodded when he heard her and checked the time. If they went now, they’d be back in time to get Morgan from school. “Maybe I’ll take you to that diner you like for lunch.” He laughed and instead of turning onto the road to head home, he turned the direction towards Pepper’s doctor. 

At home FRIDAY was still monitoring the emails when the AI noticed an anomaly in the pattern. Miss Potts’ phone just received a text message from the same email, but disguised as her doctor. Though, when the AI tried to reach them, it was denied. 

_Miss Potts, there has been an anomaly detected in your phone. Do not open the message._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Guess who's back...! Sorry for the extended break. The past few weeks have been extremely rough for me and every time I tried to pick up with the story, I felt uninspired and I didn't want to post something I wasn't proud of. I appreciate all of the lovely comments for this story and I hope to be updating a little more regularly again. Thank you again for your support and I hope you're all still with me <3


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strange things begin to happen after Tony finds out about the cryptic emails Pepper's been getting. Things only get more complicated when Pepper's appointment isn't what it seems.

While they drove towards Pepper’s doctor, Tony glanced over at his wife. “What has FRIDAY been keeping tabs on for you?” He asked her. “And don’t deny it, because I saw the file that was created.”

“Why do you always assume the worst in situations?” Pepper sighed when she heard him. “Do you remember Quentin Beck? He was an employee at the company a while ago, fired for insubordination. Well, he’s been sending me these random emails and I’ve had FRIDAY monitoring them to see if there’s some kind of threat or if he’s just sending nonsense. So far it’s nonsense.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me as soon as it happened?” Tony asked her. He remembered meeting Beck a few times in the past, but the man hadn’t been the greatest fit for the company, especially after Tony introduced the BARF technology - which he wouldn’t deny that Beck had contributed to some of the project, but that was it. “Pep, I know you’re on maternity leave and haven’t been into the city for a while, but if he’s threatening you…”

“But he’s _not_ threatening me,” Pepper shook her head. “Like I said, they’re just nonsense. The only pattern that FRIDAY has found is the fact he sends the emails between four and seven in the morning. That’s it. They’re just old articles about the company. I would’ve told you if they got any worse. I didn’t want to stress you out while you’re recovering.”

Tony scoffed when he heard her. “You didn’t want me to stress out? Honey, you’re the one who’s eight months pregnant. But if you say it’s nothing, then I believe you.” 

“Tony, it’s fine,” Pepper looked at him. “I promise if it gets any worse I will let you know so we can handle it properly.” 

The rest of the drive to the doctor’s office was quiet. Pepper was capable of handling these things on her own - even if she was eight months pregnant. If she wasn’t on maternity leave and could travel to the city more often, she’d probably be working a little more, but she didn’t want to put her unborn son in danger. 

After pulling into the parking lot, Tony put the car in park and looked over at his wife. “Pepper, I’m sorry. You know I’m just looking out for you. It’s not like I’m going to put the suit on and incinerate this guy. I just want to make sure that my family is safe. We’ve done so much the past few years to make sure Morgan’s spent her life out of the spotlight, so knowing this guy is sending you emails creeps me out.”

“I know. You’ve just been going through so much that I figured I’d handle this on my own,” Pepper said, leaning in to kiss him. “I love you.” 

Getting out of the car, Tony went over to Pepper’s side and helped her out, kissing her cheek in the process. Escorting her inside, he looked around. The office wasn’t an unfamiliar place, but there was a weird vibe going on and he didn’t usually believe in those things. Though, in an effort to not upset Pepper anymore, he kept his mouth shut. 

Heading over to the front desk, Pepper greeted the nurse who was typing on her computer. “Hi, I’m here to see Dr. Johnston. I got a text regarding test results,” she smiled at the young woman, who smiled back.

“Of course,” the young woman nodded and looked over at another nurse. “Janice, will you take Mrs. Stark to exam room 3?”

The other nurse nodded, opening the door to bring her back when Pepper shook her head. “Can't I bring my husband with me?” 

Janice hesitated for a moment, but soon offered her a smile. “Oh… Dr. Johnston wants to speak with you alone for a moment. I’ll see that Mr. Stark is brought back in a few minutes.” 

Pepper saw the way the nurse hesitated, then tried to remember if she had seen this particular nurse before, but she couldn’t quite remember. Looking back at Tony, she offered him a quick wave before following Janice to the exam room. 

While Pepper went back with the nurse, Tony offered the lady behind the desk a smile before sitting down in the waiting room. Grabbing his phone, he opened up the notification from the phone call he missed earlier. He hadn’t recognized the number, but noticed the caller had left a message and the caller had a familiar voice.

“Mr. Stark, it’s Peter. Sorry I’m bothering you, but something’s happened and I know you’ll be upset with me… but you have to know someone took the glasses. I’m sorry, I know I have to make it up to you, but you need to know that you’re possibly in danger. Don’t believe anything.” 

_Don’t believe anything._

Was he supposed to believe that now? Tony trusted Peter with those glasses… how could he just let someone take the glasses? And why was he calling from an unknown number?

Getting up, Tony went over to the front desk. “Excuse me… Victoria? Yes, I was told I could go back to see my wife in a few minutes. Can I go see her now?”

Though, the woman sat typing at her computer. “Oh Mr. Stark… you’ll be seeing her soon.”

~ 

Waiting alone in the room, Pepper looked up at the ceiling and sighed. If her doctor called her in for this, then something had to be up. She chuckled when she could feel the baby kicking. “Settle down there, little man… just give me a few more weeks.” 

The longer she waited, the more Pepper began to wonder why she was here. Getting up, she opened the door and looked out to see no one in the hallway. “Dr. Johnston?” However, the person that came around the corner was not Dr. Johnston and he did not look happy. “Excuse me, where is Dr. Johnston?”

“Dr. Johnston isn’t coming today,” the man told her, before nudging the door closed. “Don’t worry, we’ll be with you soon.” Locking the door behind him, he went to the little hallway connecting the exam rooms to the reception desk. “Are we good?” He asked, watching the facade of the busy waiting room disappearing into empty chairs. 

“Mr. Stark has been contained, we’re just waiting for the signal… which should be here any second." Victoria said, checking outside as she locked the front doors. She had doubts that this would actually work, considering they had to cancel all remaining appointments that day in order to clear the place - and it was a coincidence that Miss Potts’ actual doctor had been on call with the hospital, so it created the perfect place for this part of the plan. Now that Beck had the glasses, they were only a few short steps away from getting what they were really after. 

Banging on the door, Pepper sighed. Something was clearly up and she had to get out of here. Looking for her purse, she grabbed her phone and tried calling Tony, but found her phone couldn’t place calls. “Shit…” she muttered, realizing that this was more serious than she thought. Starting a hard reboot of her phone, Pepper started banging on the door again. “If you don’t let me out, there will be hell to pay!” 

But when no one answered, Pepper sat down in the chair in the corner of the room. When her phone came back up, she logged in with her Stark secure credentials in hopes that it would lead back to FRIDAY’s mainframe and she could try to figure out what was going on. “FRIDAY, are you awake?” 

Though, instead of an answer, the AI began uploading information to her phone. Names flashed across her phone’s screen: _Peter Parker, Quentin Beck, Stark Industries, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts_ ; along with other keywords that she recognized: _Binary Augmented Retro Framing, EDITH, insubordination, unstable_ … the list was endless and Pepper was furious. She remembered when Tony came up with the EDITH glasses, as part of the defense system that was created in case of another world catastrophe. He had talked to her about gifting the glasses to Peter, she was reluctant, but Tony assured her that Peter was ready to take on the responsibilities of the glasses. Maybe that was the wrong assumption.

“FRIDAY, what am I looking at?” Pepper asked, trying to read through what the AI had been sending her the past hour. 

_An anomaly was detected in your device approximately forty-seven minutes ago. The message from your doctor was an internal virus, made specifically to attack my system, the AI typed. The email was sent from a secure location that I am still trying to locate. I am not sure why you were the intended target._

“Shit,” Pepper shook her head when she realized they were in some trouble. Then, a horrible realization came over her. “Oh my god, please tell me that Morgan’s safe in school.”

_Miss Stark is safe_ , FRIDAY assured her. _There has been no threat detected or theorized around her school. Shall I contact Colonel Rhodes or Mr. Hogan?_

“Yes, but just tell them I need someone to pick Morgan up… I'm not sure what to tell them yet,” Pepper sighed in relief when she realized her daughter was safe. “And FRIDAY, get me out of here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So... this is awkward. I definitely didn't intend to take an extended leave of absence, but I guess a lot has happened in the past few months. While I'm not sure that anyone's still reading this... I hope you enjoy! This has been a little rough getting back into the swing of things and while I won't promise more regular updates, I do hope to get this story finished soon. For those who are still reading, thank you for your support; and for those who are just being introduced to this story, thank you for taking a look!


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony comes face-to-face with Quentin Beck, quickly learning that not everything is what it seems.

Tony awoke in a strangely familiar, but unfamiliar place. Looking around, he tried to stretch from his seat, but like any other evil-villain he’s encountered, he was tied up. “You know, we’re in the 2020s now… tying up your hostages is so early 2010s,” he called out, but no one answered. 

As he looked around to find an exit, Tony realized why the room looked so familiar. This looked like the presentation hall at MIT. Where he had given the September Foundation grant speech. 

" _To generate, disseminate and preserve knowledge, and work with others, to bring to bear on the world's great challenges. Well, you, or the others…_ ” a voice echoed. His voice. " _All of your projects have just been approved and funded. No strings. No taxes. Just... reframe the future!_ ”

Just as he was shaking the echo from his head, the room started to change. The facade of the stage disappeared, the seats in the auditorium faded away to show a brick wall. Instead of sitting in a spotlight, Tony was in the middle of an empty room, the only thing there was a hanging lightbulb. 

"Reframe the future...” someone else spoke up. Tony looked around, noticing a shadowy figure standing in the doorway. Soon, the voice continued, “Helluva thing coming from you. Considering all the mistakes you’ve made and ideas you stole, just to make a profit.” 

“I’ve never considered myself to be perfect,” Tony shook his head. “And I made peace with all of my flaws a long time ago, tried to fix the problems I had started. But stealing an idea to profit off of it, not quite in my resume. Now, are you going to untie me so we can talk man-to-man, or are we going to keep up with the outdated tied-up hostage look?”

Soon, the shadowed figure stepped forward, allowing himself to be shown. “You know, I thought you changed, but you’re really still the same self-centered jerk you were before. Your ego is insane.”

When Tony saw the man speaking to him and realized who it was, he shook his head. “I don’t know what you want or why you’re doing this, but you should stop while you’re ahead,” he looked at him. “Whatever grudge you’re holding against me or my wife for you getting fired…”

“It’s not a grudge!” Beck looked at him. “It’s me getting the recognition I deserve. You know I created the EDITH glasses and you gave them to a child."

“What do you want, Beck?” Tony looked at the man. “Why are you doing this?”

Quentin grinned, pulling a glasses case from his pocket. “I want the world to see you for the fraud you are… and I want those drones."

“That’s not going to happen,” Tony told him, still trying to loosen the restraints around his wrists. “What have you done with my wife?”

“Now you want answers?” Quentin laughed. Pulling out his phone, he pressed a few buttons before a video projection appeared in the room. It was surveillance video from the doctor’s office, Pepper’s strawberry blonde hair visible in the exam room they locked in her. He could see the look of panic on Tony’s face, but what he didn’t know is that this was all part of the illusion. “Don’t worry, your wife is fine. Well, at least for thirty more minutes. If you don’t transfer ownership of the EDITH glasses, I’ll make sure you never get to see your wife and child again.”

Leaving the room, Beck smiled to himself. He had Stark exactly where he wanted. 

~

“FRIDAY, I know there’s got to be a way out of here,” Pepper spoke to her phone as she tugged on the door handle. There wasn’t much she could do while eight months pregnant, but being locked in a room wasn’t helping matters either. Since the door wasn’t budging, she sat down on a chair in the room, grabbing her phone to look at. “Can my phone make calls?”

 _Restarting the phone appears to have restored communications_ , FRIDAY told her. _I cannot reach Mr. Stark’s phone. It appears it’s been turned off. I will keep trying_.

“Thanks,” Pepper said as she began dialing numbers to see if she could make phone calls. The first call was to Tony’s phone, but just as FRIDAY hinted, she couldn’t get through. “You alerted Happy right? Let’s see if I can get through to him.”

While she waited for Happy to answer, Pepper realized she could still be under surveillance and knew she needed to be careful with her words, just in case someone was tailing him or Morgan’s school. 

“Pepper? What’s going on?” Happy answered the phone. “I just got this text from FRIDAY wanting me to get Morgan. Is everything okay?” 

“Yes, we’re okay,” Pepper said, not wanting to reveal too much. “The doctor wants me to stay a little longer, so we need you to pick Morgan up. Just don’t take her home right away. Maybe you two can go into town for a little bit?”

That concerned Happy… because he had gotten the weirdest message from Peter a little while ago too. “Are you sure everything’s okay? I got a voicemail from Peter earlier.”

“I’m okay… I’ll call you in a little bit,” Pepper said, smiling when she finally heard a click on the door handle. “Just tell Morgan we’ll see her soon, okay?” 

Happy wasn’t entirely convinced, but he wasn’t going to argue with her. If she needed someone to look after Morgan, then he’d make sure she was safe. “Okay, I’ll keep my phone on me,” he told her. “Talk to you soon.”

“Thank you Happy,” Pepper said, ending the call. “FRIDAY, is the building clear?” She asked, grabbing the jar of wooden sticks as she opened the door to the hall. She wasn’t sure what the jar was going to do, but she could throw it at someone if there were still people here.

 _Building is empty, Miss Potts. There is no one inside_ , the AI explained. _There’s an incoming call from Mr. Parker_.

Heading into the hall, Pepper answered the call. “Peter, what’s going on?”

“Miss Potts! I’m so glad you’re okay,” Peter sounded relieved when she answered. “I’m going to be in so much trouble, I know… but you have to believe me when I say that Mr. Stark is in danger. Where are you?”

“I’m at my doctor’s office… for what I thought was supposed to be a checkup, but was apparently an ambush instead,” Pepper made her way towards the front waiting room and found the building to completely deserted and her husband was nowhere in sight. “Peter, what’s going on?” 

The teen sighed and she could hear noise in the background. “Well… you see. After I had gotten the glasses from Mr. Stark… Nick Fury wanted to recruit me to join SHIELD, since you know, I am an Avenger and all… and he introduced me to Quentin Beck.”

Pepper listened to Peter’s entire story, not sure what to think. Beck had managed to trick Fury into thinking he was some kind of ‘hero’ from another timeline? She figured Nick Fury would be smarter than that. Either way, she wasn’t happy. “What are you saying, Peter?” 

“Beck has the EDITH glasses and needs Mr. Stark to transfer ownership to use them,” Peter said. “I have an idea of where Mr. Stark might be, but I’m worried.” 

“An idea is better than nothing, Peter… I need to know where my husband is,” Pepper said, heading outside, realizing she was completely alone. “Listen, whatever happened is in the past now. You made a mistake… albeit a _huge_ one, but right now we have to find Tony and stop this guy from getting what he wants.” 

Getting to the car, Pepper started up the engine and buckled in. “Peter, where do you think Tony is?”

“He’s at the old Stark Expo site in Queens,” Peter told her. “I think it’s supposed to be symbolic, but who knows.” 

“The old Expo site? I thought they made that into office space?” Pepper asked as she turned out of the parking lot and onto the main road. “Now explain everything that Beck is planning on doing with the EDITH glasses.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Beginning quote is from "Captain America: Civil War", I take no credit for writing it. Anyway, thanks for continuing on this journey with me. This story has been a challenge to get back into, but I'm determined to keep it going. Thanks for the support!
> 
> PS - The next couple chapters will get a little more interesting... just had to get back into the swing of things!


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Beck realizes his plan isn't panning out like it's supposed to, Peter fills Pepper in on what's going on and they hatch a rescue plan for Tony... all while Tony himself is hatching an escape plan of his own (Part 1/2).

“What do you mean she left the building?” Beck yelled, looking at his team. “You were supposed to keep an eye on her.”

Victoria shrugged, looking at Janice. “We figured since she’s eight months pregnant that she couldn’t do anything,” she told him. 

“I’m working with idiots…” Beck sighed, going to his computer to see what he could do. Since he didn’t have access to EDITH, he couldn’t get a drone to find Pepper Potts, but… “Can someone tell me where Parker is? I have an idea. Let’s see, where oh where is Spider-Man?”

Since he had a tracker on Peter’s phone, Beck was able to locate him in the city. Quickly hacking into some security cameras around the area, he was pleased when he saw both of them were together. “Someone send Guterman where they are,” he turned around to look at his team. “Let’s go! The quicker we can bring them in, the quicker Tony will give us EDITH.”

Though, it wasn’t guaranteed that this would get him what he wanted, but it was time Tony Stark paid for what he did. The world needed to know that Tony Stark is a fraud. 

~ 

“Miss Potts!” Peter waved when he saw her parked car. He had changed out of his suit, not wanting to draw attention to himself, but he had sensed someone was watching them. “Want some coffee?” He asked, pulling her inside the coffee shop they were by. Peter hoped if they were in a public space, it was less likely one of Beck’s guys would find them.

“Peter… what’s going on?” Pepper said, pulling him close for a hug when she noticed someone watching them. “I thought you were supposed to be in Europe?” 

“I know, I know… they ended up sending us home because weird things started happening. Not to mention, I was trying to do things for Nick Fury and when I found out Beck was involved, everything went downhill from there. I know I screwed up. I gave away the one thing Tony entrusted me with to someone who kidnapped Tony because he’s just a prick who wants revenge. I wasn’t meant to be an Avenger.”

Peter looked so upset and even though Pepper was a little disappointed in him, she knew that wasn’t the right thing to say right now. “Peter, look at me,” she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “You made a mistake. We all make mistakes. Even Tony makes mistakes… but the greatest part is that we learn from them. Tony wanted you to have those glasses because he knew you were the right person to have them. Even if you didn’t use them now, you’d know when the time’s right.” 

In the short amount of time she had known the teenager, Pepper knew Peter was a smart kid and that he was duped by Beck. That wasn’t his fault. Either way, that would be a discussion for a different day. Right now, they had to figure out how to get Tony back and stop Beck.

“Now, how do you suggest we get Tony back?” Pepper asked, glancing at her phone to see if FRIDAY sent her any updates regarding Tony or Beck. 

“I’m not sure…” Peter said, looking down at the table. “I don’t really know why Beck involved you in this either. It’s not fair to your or your family.” 

Pepper shook her head. “Unfortunately I’m no stranger when it comes to this sort of thing,” she told the teen. “All I know is Quentin Beck worked for Stark Industries years ago and was fired for insubordination when he started threatening us about the technology behind the EDITH glasses and the Binary-Augmented Retro Framing device. It got ugly, but I didn’t think it could get uglier.” 

That caused Peter to think for a moment. He had studied up on a bit of the technology when he was in school and it was used against him in Europe when Beck deceived him and everyone else. “Beck is creating illusions for a false reality… maybe we can try to use that against him,” he looked at Pepper with a newfound sense of purpose, but something in the distance caught his eye. “We need to go.”

“Peter?” Pepper saw the look in his eye and as she turned around in her chair, she was going to look outside when she heard a shot and glass breaking. 

People were screaming and huddling to the ground. Pepper could barely comprehend what was going on, but when she was finally able to come to her senses, she saw Peter standing over her, staring at her with wide eyes and when she followed his gaze, she noticed blood.

“Miss Potts!”

~ 

As he sat tied to a chair, Tony realized he’s been in this position before… _he’s been in this position before_!

“Jesus… it’s Miami all over again,” Tony muttered to himself. Looking at the projection of the doctor’s office where Pepper was trapped, Tony hated that he got his wife stuck in this mess. Especially since it wasn’t something they should be involved in at all. However, as he watched the projection some more, the closer he paid attention to the clock on the wall in the doctor’s office. The hands on the clock read 10:15… then 10:22… then back to 10:15. It was a loop. There was a chance Pepper wasn’t there anymore. _I’ve got to get out of here._

Twisting his hand some more, Tony was able to move his bionic arm just right to loosen up the rope. He might not have a suit anymore, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t Iron Man anymore… well, maybe it did, but Tony could definitely get himself out of this mess. 

Once he was free from the chair, Tony immediately went looking for a way out of the room he was in. He still didn’t know exactly where he was, but he was certain Beck was off the rails and if there was one thing he knew, the villain always messed up. 

As he exited the room he was in, Tony was cautious. Grabbing his phone, he realized Beck was probably monitoring his phone, but that didn’t stop him. Restarting his phone, he waited for FRIDAY to reboot, Tony made his way down the hall. The building was deserted and as he looked outside, he knew exactly where he was. 

“FRIDAY… Earth to FRIDAY, can you copy?” Tony tapped his phone, waking up the AI.

_Welcome back, boss. I’ve detected an outside server trying to gain access to this device. Shall I lockdown the Stark Internal Servers?_

“Yes, and get me a location on Pepper,” Tony told the AI. 

_Miss Potts has been located in the city with Peter Parker. There appears to be unusual activity where she’s located_ , the AI told him _. Miss Potts’ blood pressure level is rising, she could be in danger._

“Pepper knows how to handle herself,” Tony said, reaching the stairs. He was in a lot of pain, but adrenaline was keeping him going. “I can’t get in a suit, that’s not happening. But, contact Rhodes and maybe Lang… get someone to come out here.” He needed back up.

While he made it to the stairwell, Tony found the map of the building. He cursed himself for not having his glasses with him, because the damn map was harder to read than he hoped, but he still had FRIDAY. “Hey, I need the quickest way out of here.” 

_On it, boss. Creating schematics now._ FRIDAY soon displayed a map on Tony’s phone, showing him the location of where they were and the quickest way to get out. As Tony was descending the steps, the AI cut in again. Colonel Rhodes is on the line.

“Hey Rhodey,” Tony answered the call. “What are you up to right now? I could use some assistance dealing with a problem.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Rhodey sighed. “What’s going on? I keep getting messages from FRIDAY on the secure line. Is everything okay?"

“If everything was okay, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now,” Tony told his best friend. “Look, it’s a lot of explaining to do, but we don’t have time for that right now.” While he sort-of explained what was going on, Tony soon made it to the bottom of the stairs. However, as he opened the door and saw that Beck and a few other people were standing guard, he sighed. “I should’ve known this was too easy,” he sighed. "I’m gonna have to call you back.” 

~ 

“Miss Potts, don’t worry… I’ve got you,” Peter said, keeping his arm around her as he brought her through the back of the coffee shop. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.” 

“What happened?” Pepper asked, taking a deep breath. The last thing she had seen was the look of horror on Peter’s face, along with the sounds of glass shattering and people freaking out. 

Peter shook his head, trying to get Pepper as far away from the area as he could. “I’m not sure, but I think Beck knows we’re here,” he said. “I’m getting you out of here and I need my suit.”

As she slowly became more aware of what was going on, Pepper noticed the red stains on Peter’s shirt. “Peter, you’re bleeding,” she told the teen, but saw him shake his head.

“I’m okay,” he told her, not wanting to worry her even more. Peter soon came to a stop, allowing Pepper a minute to catch her breath and look at her surroundings. When she actually got a closer look, she realized she had blood on her too. Although, she didn’t think about it. However, when Peter looked at her, he shook his head. “Miss Potts, I think you’re the one who’s bleeding.” 

Hearing what he said, Pepper looked down at her arm and saw a spot of blood that continued to spread on her sleeve. “I think it just grazed me,” she told him. Although, she wasn’t quite sure. “It doesn’t even hurt.” 

Taking off his sweatshirt, Peter wrapped it around Pepper’s arm, tying it off to create pressure to stop the wound from bleeding. “I’m going to find help,” he said, but Pepper took his hand.

“Peter, get your suit… go find Tony. I’ll be okay,” Pepper said, taking a deep breath as she tried not to think about how much her arm hurt. Not to mention… the baby. Oh god, this was definitely not following her doctor’s orders to stay home and relax. She was way past that. Taking another deep breath, she could hear the screeching of car breaks. “Peter, go. Keep your phone on, okay?” 

The teen nodded, disappearing into the buildings above. He believed Miss Potts when she said she’d be okay, he just hoped it wouldn’t be too late for Mr. Stark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: This chapter (14) and the next (15) are being treated as a two-parter. It was too short to leave on its own, but too long to keep together. I'll have a longer note at the end of the next chapter.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing from the previous chapter: When their escape/rescue plans are thwarted, Pepper and Tony find themselves reunited, working together to get out of Beck's hands before something even worse happens. Unfortunately for Beck, his plans just got more complicated (Part 2/2).

“Okay, let’s try this again…” Arms crossed behind his back, Beck walked back and forth. “Now that I have _both_ of you here. Maybe I can convince you to give me those drones.” 

“You know… this is terribly cliche,” Pepper sighed, moving her arms to see if she could loosen up the ropes around her wrists.

“Shut _up_!” Beck looked at her. “Seriously… you and your husband. I thought maybe, just maybe you’d actually listen to me. All you’ve done is create problems.Iron Man? All you did was create more problems than you have fixed anything…"

“You’re insane if you think…” Pepper interrupted, but Beck cut her off.

“If you don’t give me access to those drones within the next hour, you won’t like the consequences,” he told them. “Janice… get my suit ready.” 

Once Beck left the room, Tony turned to look at his wife and looked in horror at the blood staining her arm. “Pep… I’m so sorry,” he said, looking at her.

Shaking her head, Pepper sighed. “It’s not your fault… he’s just an insane man who wants something that he’s not going to get.” Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. “Shit…” 

“What’s wrong?” Tony looked at her. “What happened to your arm?”

Pepper shook her head. “My arm was grazed by some broken glass… I was talking with Peter earlier. He got mixed up in something with this guy. I just… this is ridiculous.” 

While they were sitting there, Pepper could feel herself getting tired, but she had to stay awake. She had to get out of here. Continuing to move her hands to loosen the grip around her wrists, she looked over at her husband. “Tony… this isn’t your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong. This guy is insane and when the world figures that out, we’ll be fine.”

“But this is putting stress on you and the baby and I promised you that this wasn’t going to happen anymore. I’m so sorry.” Tony shook his head. “Even when I’m not Iron Man, all I do is cause problems. I promised you that this was going to stop, that I wasn’t going to get you involved in this.” 

Sighing softly, Pepper looked at him. “Tony… I also got myself in this. I was the one who didn’t tell you about the emails okay?” Soon, she felt her wrists free and she chuckled. “Okay, he needs to hire better henchmen, like… come on.” 

Soon, there was a knock on the window, looking up the couple grinned when they saw Spider-Man hanging to the side. “FRIDAY?” Pepper tapped on her watch.

_Already on it, Miss Pott_ s… the AI connected the call to Peter. 

“Hey Miss Potts! I got FRIDAY’s message,” Peter’s voice came through her watch. “You don’t have to worry, we’re going to get you two out of there.” 

Untying Tony’s hands, Pepper kissed his cheek and took his hand. “Come on, we’ve got to go,” she told him. “Peter, just help us find an escape route out of here.” 

“On it,” the teen told her as he disappeared from view. “Oh, we brought a few friends too.” 

Outside, they saw Rhodey flying by in the War Machine armor and Tony knew they were going to be in capable hands. Leaning in to kiss his wife, he smiled. “I promise, this is the last trouble we’re ever getting in.”

“Don’t make promises that will definitely be broken,” Pepper said with a teasing smile. “Come on, let’s go.”

~

"What do you mean the Avengers are here?” Beck looked at his assistant. 

“Our Spider friend has found some backup,” Victoria shrugged. “Want me to power up the next electrical pulse? It’ll shake them for a minute.”

“No, if we set it off too early, it’ll mess with the illusions,” Beck sighed, looking at the security camera footage when he realized this was not going to plan. “In fact… why don’t you crank it up to 150%, yeah… that’s an idea.”

“Are you sure you want to do that? You could blow the entire building. That’s not the plan at all…” Victoria looked at her boss.

“I don’t care! I want the rest of those drones and I’m going to get them one way or another and I know exactly how to do it.”

~ 

“I’m not leaving you, not now,” Pepper shook her head when she heard her husband. “There’s a reason I’m here.”

“But honey, you’re pregnant… like, eight months pregnant, I can’t have you risking your life or the baby’s,” Tony took her hand. “Remember, when you were in the hospital a few months ago? You were told to take it easy… and now you’re here, stuck in the same position I’ve been trying to keep you out of and yet this seems like it’s partly your fault since this crazy-guy kept contacting you."

As Tony continued to ramble about what she could and couldn’t do, Pepper sighed. “Are you done?” 

“Pepper…”

“Tony, I already told you. I had a plan. we’re going to get out of here and everyone else is going to take care of this guy and we’re going home. Okay?” Pepper tried to reassure him. As they made it to the stairwell, Pepper opened the door, only to be immediately greeted by darkness.

Gripping the doorway, Pepper felt Tony pull her back. Turning around to look at her husband, Pepper saw something come at them from down the hall. “Tony… Tony…” 

Noticing the look on his wife’s face, Tony looked back to see someone coming toward them. From far away, it looked like a person… but when it got closer, he saw the brown hair and that unmistakable little gauntlet made from a mitten. “Morguna?” 

_How could they get their daughter?_ Pepper had spoken to Happy earlier, and FRIDAY confirmed that they were back at the cabin. “That’s not…” she began, but stopped when she felt something grab her from behind. “Tony!”

“Pepper!” Tony reached for his wife’s hand, but soon she disappeared into the void that was supposed to be the stairwell. Turning around again, the illusion that looked like Morgan came closer, but when he soon realized it wasn’t Morgan at all, Tony stepped back. 

“Mr. Stark!?” Peter’s voice called out as he crashed through the window. Shooting off one of his webs, Peter took down the illusion that quickly revealed a drone. As Tony was about to thank Peter, he heard Pepper scream. “Tony!”

“Pepper!” Tony turned around again, stepping into the void that she just disappeared into. “Pepper, I’m coming!” 

“Wait, Mr. Stark, it’s a trap,” Peter told him. 

“But I can’t leave Pepper down there. She could be hurt,” Tony looked at his protege. “How do I know _you_ _’_ _re_ not an illusion? You’re the one who told me not to trust anyone.”

“I know I said that, but when do you ever listen to me?” Peter asked, looking at him. “But I brought backup and FRIDAY said you could use this.” Holding out the gauntlet, Peter looked at his mentor. “Please trust _me_ , Mr. Stark.”

Tony was hesitant to take the gauntlet, unsure of how his body would react to wearing a piece of the Iron Man armor after so many months. However, he knew there was no other way out of this situation, he’d have to make do with what he could. 

Pulling on the gauntlet, Tony let the nano-tech do its thing and powered up so he could use it. “Okay kid, let’s go.” 

~ 

“I’m so tired of being used as a pawn,” Pepper sighed as she was being tied to a chair for the umpteenth time that day. “Seriously, Beck… what do you want from us?”

Beck was leaning against a desk, arms crossed and tapping his foot on the floor. “As I told you earlier, I want the rest of the drones. I can make the world believe anything they want right now. And Mysterio is going to be an even bigger hero than Iron Man ever was.” 

Moving around the desk, Beck pressed a button. “Victoria… start it up,” he said. “Let’s show these Avengers what we’re really capable of.” 

From another room, Victoria started up the next electromagnetic pulse, sending shock waves through the building and the immediate surrounding area. Just as Victoria had stated, powering it up to 150% created an aftershock through the building, rattling the tables and chairs, even shattering a few windows. It was exactly what Beck wanted. Disappearing from view, he went to get into his costume for the main event. 

While Pepper was strapped to the chair, she began to feel slight cramping and she sighed. This had to be ending soon, right? She wasn’t going to let this happen. Not here. As she was looking around for an escape route, she soon noises outside the door, before it was blasted off the hinges. 

“Miss Potts, are you in here?” Peter’s voice echoed into the room. 

“Careful!” Pepper warned him, but soon there was a blast from where Beck had disappeared to, shooting right at Peter, who was caught off-guard, being blasted to the other side of the room.

“Why don’t you quit while you’re ahead?” Beck, now wearing his Mysterio get-up, asked. Looming over them, he sighed. “Seriously… haven’t you learned yet, Parker? You’re just getting in my way. If anyone’s leaving here alive today, it’ll be me. Forget Spider-Man, forget the Avengers… forget Iron Man, I’m taking over.”

Getting up, Peter held onto his injured side, but shook his head. “Here’s the thing, Beck… you’ll never be the next Iron Man. Just like you told me, _it_ _’_ _s easy to fool people, when they_ _’_ _re already_ _fooling_ _themselves_.”

Just then, a different kind of pulse came from the entryway, knocking Beck off balance and out of his illusion suit. Tony stood in the doorway, arm up as he had just used the gauntlet. While Beck was down, Peter ran back over to Pepper, cutting her out of the restraints so she could free her hands and get out. 

“It’s okay, Miss Potts… Just down the hall you’ll be able to get out,” Peter told her, looking up at Tony when he came over to them. 

“Tony, what’s going on?” Pepper looked at her husband.

“Rhodey and the others have Beck’s crew… we just needed to find you,” Tony said, kissing the top of her head as he finished tearing the restraints off the chair. Looking at his wife, he noticed she had paled and looked worried about something. Just as he was about to help her up, Tony was knocked off his feet again. 

“When will you ever learn, Tony? The world is over you. You were a fraud right from the start,” Beck asked, this time appearing in his motion capture suit. “Take credit for everything that you were too stupid to figure out yourself… you just can’t get over yourself.” Kicking Tony while he was on the ground, Beck smiled. “To think I can change the narrative of this story, well…”

However, Beck was soon cut off, being knocked unconscious to the floor. Tony caught his breath, looked at Beck, then back up at what hit him. Pepper stood there, holding the folding chair she had been sitting in. “Sorry… but he really needed to shut up.” 

Tony was being helped up by Peter when he heard his wife. Chuckling, he shook his head. This had gone on for way too long, but now they could finally stop this craziness and back to reality. Though, as he got up, he looked over at Pepper, who was now doubled over, looking like she was in pain. “Peter, you take care of Beck,” he said, going over to be by his wife. Looking at Pepper, he was about to take her hand when he noticed something. “Pep… you’re bleeding."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Okay! I just want to say that these chapters took me forever to write, but I'm glad they're finally up. I also want to say that when it came to writing Beck and his team, I tried my best to interpret as much of their characters as I could, but I know some of it might not be accurate. I really wanted to showcase the craziness of Beck's actions and how unstable it made him, ultimately leading to his downfall. And if the pacing seem sporadic... sorry, I tried my best. Now that this two-parter is over... I'll be going back to writing more Stark family goodness (well... almost).
> 
> PS - If anyone's wondering, Tony's not wearing an entire suit, just an extra gauntlet on his left hand from the last suit he wore. Also, the illusion of Morgan came from the fact that Beck would know the Starks have a daughter and that she's most likely been photographed in public before. The idea came to me similar to the illusion sequence in "Far from Home". 
> 
> Anyway, thank you to everyone who's been reading this and I know I'm not posting as often anymore, but when I do have the time to write, I do appreciate your feedback and support :)


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After months of waiting, it's time for Pepper and Tony to meet their baby boy, but not without a few worries along the way.

“I’m fine, just let me catch my breath…” Pepper said, waving him off. Maybe Tony had just noticed the blood on her arm from where she’d gotten grazed by the broken glass earlier, although, she knew her husband was smarter than that. Not to mention, it probably had nothing to do with the gash on her arm, but on the spot of blood that was spreading across her leggings, the sight of which made Pepper lightheaded. “Oh…”

Reaching to help steady his wife, Tony was immediately worried by the thought of what was happening. They were so close to welcoming their son, but he knew this would be devastating if something bad happened. “Just breathe…” he told her. “It’s going to be okay.” 

Nodding, Pepper took a deep breath, holding it as she felt another sharp pain. When she realized the pains weren’t going away, she looked up at Tony in horror. “Tony, the _baby_.” They’d gotten so far, she couldn’t lose their son now. She was so worried about what was happening that she didn’t notice the rest of the team entering the room to see what was going on, or even hear them calling for an ambulance.

“Hey… hey… it’s okay,” Tony told her, wrapping his arms around her as he guided her away from the commotion. While he was bringing her over to a chair, he kissed the top of her head before turning to look at Rhodey when he saw his friend. “Hey, I need you to call Happy and tell him Pep’s going to the hospital… I want him to bring Morgan into the city."

Rhodey gave Tony’s shoulder a reassuring pat before walking away so he could call their friend. He did turn back to make sure they were doing okay while he did so. This had been one helluva day. FRIDAY had alerted him to the emails that Pepper had been receiving from Beck and the team had been keeping tabs on the activity of what was going on in Europe when Peter and Maria Hill told them something was up. But he didn’t expect Tony and Pepper to be roped into this twisted mess. But at least now Beck had been caught… but at what cost?

When the ambulance arrived, EMT’s immediately tended to Pepper, attaching IVs and getting her vitals before getting her onto a gurney to be transferred to the hospital. Tony stood by his wife’s side the entire time this was happening, allowing her to squeeze his hand anytime she felt discomfort. Soon, Pepper was loaded into the ambulance and they were on their way. 

The entire ride to the hospital was a blur. Pepper held onto Tony’s hand as she answered questions the EMTs had, squeezing it tight whenever they hit a bump or she felt in even more pain. It had been an incredibly long day and Pepper was so frustrated, but all she wanted right now was to make sure nothing happened to their son. 

Arriving at the hospital, Pepper was immediately brought in for observation. She could hear the nurses chatting, some asking for information about what was going on, others asking who her OB was… either way, there was a lot happening. Tony held onto his wife’s hand for as long as he possibly could before the nurses needed him to move. “I’m right here, Pep…” he told her, standing near the corner of the room so the doctors and nurses could do what they needed to do. 

“Looks like you’re in labor,” the ER doctor told her. “We’re going to call your OB and get you transferred up the Labor and Delivery. Luckily the bleeding's stopped, but this baby is coming soon, whether you’re ready or not.” 

As they were sending Pepper up to the Labor and Delivery ward, Tony grabbed his phone to call Happy and see how things were coming along with Morgan. This was a completely different feeling from when Morgan was born. Back then they were prepared for this. And even though he knew they had no control over something like this, Tony was still frustrated that his wife was going through this right now. 

Once Pepper was settled and she was attached to every single monitor in the room, Pepper was watching the monitor that was keeping track of the baby’s heartbeat. It was beating pretty fast - and even with everything going on, it showed the baby was safe and okay and that’s all Pepper could be thankful for right now. She was so focused with watching the baby’s heartbeat that she didn’t see Tony come back into the room.

“Hey…” Tony said, coming up to take her hand. “Morgan’s with Happy right now and they’re going to stay at his place until we call him with an update. May’s probably going to check in on them at some point, but Morgan is being taken care of.” He knew that Pepper always worried about their daughter, so he wanted to reassure her that things were fine. Stroking her knuckles with his thumb, he shook his head. “Pep… everything’s going to be okay.”

“But what if it’s _not_ ,” Pepper asked, looking at her husband. “What if I screwed this up because I refused to let you know something was going on?” 

Shaking his head, Tony scoffed. “Pepper, look at me. Whatever happened isn’t your fault. Don’t even think that way. Sure, we weren’t ready for this little man to make his appearance yet, but when are we ever prepared? The doctor’s are going to take good care of you and our little boy when he arrives.”

Sighing, Pepper closed her eyes as she felt another contraction, squeezing his hand as she tried to distract herself from the pain. Taking a few deep breaths, she waited for the contraction to pass before speaking again. “But what if I’m not ready for him to be here yet?” Pepper looked at him. “We don’t even have a name yet.” 

That took Tony by surprise. Pepper was the strongest person he knew and though she was strong, he was glad that she was allowing him to see her vulnerabilities too. “You’re right… we haven’t figured that out yet,” he chuckled quietly, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. “But we’ve got some time. Maybe we can get to know him a little bit before actually figuring out a name for him.” 

Nodding, Pepper closed her eyes again, already worn down from the contractions. She’d already been in a high-risk pregnancy once when she had Morgan, but this time around seemed to bring only more complications -and she couldn’t help but think it’d be her fault if something happened to their son. 

Leaning forward, Tony pressed a kiss to Pepper’s forehead before sitting back in his seat. He’d let Pepper get all the rest she could get, considering they were just playing the waiting game now. After sitting with her for a little while, Tony needed to get up and stretch his legs for a minute. “Pep?” He whispered, but she was sleeping. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before letting go. Heading into the hall for a little bit, he called Happy. “Hey, Hap - No, no baby yet. How’s Morgan?” 

“She’s fine,” Happy said on the other line. “May’s keeping her entertained with a tea party and some books right now, but Morgan’s a little worried. I don’t know exactly what to tell her.” 

Tony sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Yeah… I’m sure she’s a little anxious,” he agreed, trying to think of something that Happy could tell the little girl. “Just tell her that her baby brother’s coming and once he’s here, she’ll be able to come visit.” 

“Can do. Tony… Pepper’s going to be fine,” Happy reassured him. “Don’t worry… everyone’s taking care of Morgan over here. We’ll wait for some good news.” 

“Thanks Hap… tell everyone we say hello,” Tony told his friend before hanging up the phone. Looking into the room at his wife, Tony sighed. He knew this wasn’t going to be easy, especially knowing the baby was most likely not going to be able to spend much time with them when he was born, but he knew their son was going to be in good hands. 

~ 

“Alright Mama… it’s time to push,” Dr. Johnston told her patient. After an epidural and about twelve hours of labor, it was time for Tony and Pepper to meet their baby boy. Taking his place beside Pepper, Tony kissed her temple. Oddly reminiscent of the night Morgan was born, Tony whispered reassuring affirmations in her ear, he wasn’t going to leave her now. “You’ve got this,” he told her. “You’re the strongest woman I know.”

Squeezing Tony’s hand as Pepper pushed, she thought back to the night Morgan was born. How crazy painful this whole process was, but how rewarding it was once it was over. Listening to him whisper in her ear, she continued to push. The nurses were carefully watching their vitals, making sure Pepper’s blood pressure didn’t get too low or too high, but also watching the baby’s heartbeat to make sure he wasn’t in distress. 

It was a little harder this time around, Pepper felt like she was pushing much longer than she did the first time. Taking a break, Pepper caught her breath. “Shit… this hurts,” she chuckled, leaning back against the back of the bed. 

“You’re doing great,” Tony reassured her again. “Just a little more, Pep. You’re almost there.” 

Feeling the next contraction, Pepper pushed again. “That’s it, another push just like that,” Dr. Johnston told her. “Just like that, Pepper… push."

Within the next few pushes, Pepper soon felt a release of pressure and the distinct sound of a baby’s cry. Leaning back against the bed, Pepper immediately burst into tears, mostly of relief that their son was here. Soon, Dr. Johnston brought the baby up so he could be placed on Pepper’s chest and the nurses immediately started cleaning him up. “Congrats, Mama… he’s handsome,” one of the nurses said. 

Looking at the baby in her arms now, Pepper tearfully laughed. The baby had dark hair, just like his big sister. “He looks just like you,” she said to Tony, looking at him. “He’s here.” 

Tony nodded, leaning down to kiss his wife and look at their son. He still couldn’t believe how lucky he was to actually be here for this. “He’s here,” he said, reaching over to put his hands over hers. The baby was angry and crying, but Tony didn’t mind. It meant their son was healthy and his wife was okay and that’s all that mattered to him. Kissing Pepper’s temple again, he smiled. “You did great. I love you.” 

Holding onto her son for as long as she could before the nurses had to take him, Pepper examined his ten little fingers and toes, then gently stroked his cheek and made sure he was doing okay. The baby was born early, but so far he seemed to be showing no signs of complications - which was a major relief. She wouldn’t know exactly if there were any complications until the nurses took him for observation, so right now she was just enjoying her time with them. 

Even though she had already cried when the baby was first born, Pepper still found herself fighting back tears as she stared at their son. She knew how lucky they’d gotten just to be given this chance for another baby, and she knew how happy she was to have Tony here with her. Looking up at her husband, she laughed, tears staining her cheeks. “How’d we get so lucky?” 

“I don’t know, but I’m not going to ask,” Tony teased back as he rested his head against hers. “I’d call everyone to let them know he’s here, but I’m pretty sure it’s four in the morning,” he told her. Glancing at his phone, he wasn’t far off. The clock read _4:17 AM_ , so he knew how angry Happy would be if he called and woke up Morgan. So, instead of calling, Tony took a picture of Mom and Baby to let them know he safely arrived and texted it to everyone he knew was waiting eagerly. Since not many people were probably up this early, he decided that sleep was more important anyway. “Come on… let’s get baby Stark over to the nurses so you can get some sleep.” 

Pepper shook her head, but soon yawned in protest. “Okay fine…” she said, carefully handing the baby over to her husband. She watched as Tony nervously took their son in his arms, a little anxious about his metal arm and how the baby would react to it, but their son only yawned and went back to sleep. Gently placing the baby in the bassinet, he stroked his cheek. “I think he has your nose,” he told Pepper, smiling at her. 

When the nurse came in to take the baby, she placed security bracelets on both his ankles, then one on each of the parents, just so there were no issues. “Don’t worry, we’ll bring him back soon,” she reassured the parents. “Get some rest.” 

Turning onto her side, Pepper reached over to take Tony’s hand. “I love you,” she told him. 

“I love you too, Pep…” Tony said, squeezing her hand gently. “Get some rest… because I know as soon as Morgan knows her baby brother is here, she’s going to want to visit and no sleep will be had then.” 

Nodding, Pepper kissed the back of his hand before closing her eyes to catch up on some rest. It had been a very long and crazy day, but now she could finally relax. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Finally! I've been waiting to write this chapter for so long. And yes, I wanted it to be sappy and cute and just finally give Tony and Pepper the happiness they deserve. I think this particular story is only going to be a few more chapters, just so it doesn't drag on forever, but I will continue to write this happy little family because I love them so much. So, stayed tuned! Also, thanks again to everyone who's been reading and supporting this story... I know it's been a long process, but for those who might still be here, thank you for sticking with me. It means a lot! :)
> 
> PS - I'm not a doctor, nor have I ever had a baby, so this obviously isn't a true depiction of how labor and delivery actually is. Just wanted to put a disclaimer here!


End file.
